A Magical Story
by Elfprinzess
Summary: Arthur stared in shock at Merlin. He had magic. His manservant had magic. - "I trusted you, I told you things that no one else knows, I've asked for your advice, and all that time you've lied to me. I have every right to be pissed with you, I have every right to punish you. I am King and you have committed treason."
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! so yes, yet another reveal fic...but it is something that can never be over done :) I think so at least. There will be spoilers for basically all of the series, but later on. This is set sometime in season 5, I've yet to decide when, but it is after Arthur is King, and Merlin is still hiding his magic.**

**Please enjoy :) And review to let me know what you think!**

**The chapters will be updated once a week or so :D**

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**Chapter 1**

"Gaius, just tell me, where the hell is my manservant?" Arthur demanded of the old man. He was sitting at the Round Table, with his knights and his Queen. Merlin was meant to be there as well, but was absent. Gaius had turned up in his place.

"I do not know sire, perhaps he is at the tavern? Or helping out with some of the repair works?"

They had been attacked. It had been Morgana's latest attempt, sending an army of magical creatures. The creatures ranged from wyvern to serkets, and they had retreated for some reason, giving the city a lull in fighting. They were desperately trying to repatch the walls and bring all the women, children and citizens not fighting into the castle, where it was safest.

The King was meeting with his council to discuss their options, but they were missing one of their members.

Merlin.

"If he is at the bloody tavern then he has a serious addiction, given the amount of times he is there. Add in the fact that we are in the middle of a battle." Arthur grumbled, anger evident in his face.

"Merlin's nearly never at the tavern." Gwaine spoke up. "I never see him there. Only once, when we took him for celebrating your coronation."

Arthur paused and stared at his knight, then turned to Gaius and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Sire, I mean this as respectfully as possible, but I taught you that look, don't think it is going to work on me." Gaius told the King, who dropped the face and scowled at his oldest friend.

"Where is he Gaius?" Arthur demanded.

Gaius sighed and opened his mouth to answer, when the doors slammed open, allowing the servant to walk in.

"I know I'm late, I was busy helping patch a particular hole up and then we were out of supplies and manpower so I had to hang about until someone could return." Merlin explained, slipping into his seat.

Gaius and Merlin shared a look, that Arthur didn't miss.

"What was that look for?" Arthur demanded. "I'm sick of you hiding things from me Merlin. Don't deny it, I know, I'm not stupid."

"I never said you were, sire." Merlin responded calmly. "I do think you're a stuck-up, obnoxious prat who is becoming paranoid, but I never thought you stupid. Now, are we going to sit around here dilly-dallying, or actually get some planning done?"

Arthur grumbled but let the man change the topic. "Leon, what are the casualties so far?"

* * *

Within another two hours, the wyvern reappeared, but nothing else. They hung around the edges of the walls, waiting for something. There was a loud roar, and all the knights turned pale. Arthur swore and turned to check on Merlin, only to find the man running away from the King. Towards the wall.

"Merlin , you idiot!" Arthur shouted after him, taking off after the man.

Arthur followed his manservant through the crowd and up the stairs until they reached the wall. Just in time to see a shape rise from the forest and begin flying towards the city. It was black, and hazy. As it got closer, Arthur gasped as he realised what it was.

A dragon.

A black, shadowing, blurry dragon.

Wait. Arthur frowned as he studied the creature, confused as to why the shape was blurring slightly around the edges.

"It's made of shadow magic, it's not a real dragon, weapons won't kill it, they'll just fly through." Merlin told him, apparently reading his mind and answering the question before he even asked.

"How do we fight it?" Arthur whispered, as the creature approached, not really expecting an answer.

"I fight it." Merlin told the blond King. Arthur turned to lock eyes with his manservant, to demand an explanation for that comment, but the look in Merlin's eyes stopped him. It was a heaviness, a sadness that was so evident on the brunette's face, Arthur was surprised he hadn't noticed it before. "I'm sorry, my King, I am." Merlin whispered.

"What –" Arthur didn't finish the question, as Merlin tipped his head back and roared. Literally, roared. Like a dragon. He then vaulted over the edge of the wall and landed _softly_ on the ground.

"Merlin!" Arthur screamed, as the man ran towards the forest.

A responding roar made Arthur look up and freeze as a shadow blocked out the sun. The dragon was here.

"Get under cover!" Arthur screamed, "Weapons will do nothing!" He swallowed hard and prepared himself to jump over like Merlin but paused when the dragon didn't swoop the city. This dragon wasn't blurry, but was a golden colour and he wasn't attacking Camelot, or eating Merlin or anything like that. The dragon roared and the wyvern scattered, flying away. The shadow dragon roared in response, but the dragon met him head on, claws scratching at the shadows. Logistically the dragon shouldn't be able to be hurt the shadow one, but the roars of pain proved differently. Arthur stared back down at Merlin, who was standing twenty metres from the wall, facing outwards. He lifted his hands and stretched them out to his sides, and began speaking, but Arthur couldn't hear what he was saying. A few seconds later and a golden shield appeared around Camelot, flickering into existence then disappearing again. Seconds later a huge ball of lightning appeared and hit the invisible barrier, being absorbed by the shield and leaving Camelot protected.

Arthur stared in shock at Merlin. He had magic. His manservant had magic.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I was shocked to get such a large reply to the first chapter so thank you all for making my week :D**

**Here is the next chapter, a little earlier than planne due to the amount of favourites and reviews I got for the first chapter :D**

**Enjoy**

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**Chapter 2**

_Arthur stared back down at Merlin, who was standing twenty metres from the wall, facing outwards. He lifted his hands and stretched them out to his sides, and began speaking, but Arthur couldn't hear what he was saying. A few seconds later and a golden shield appeared around Camelot, flickering into existence then disappearing again. Seconds later a huge ball of lightning appeared and hit the invisible barrier, being absorbed by the shield and leaving Camelot protected._

_Arthur stared in shock at Merlin. He had magic. His manservant had magic._

His knights had joined him on the wall, and were staring in shock as well. Gaius was on the wall, tending to injured soldiers, despite the danger to himself. He was the only one not staring in astonishment at the manservant.

"Sire," Gaius began, when he approached him.

"Gaius, you knew, didn't you?" Arthur whispered, staring at his manservant in shock.

"I did, I've known since he came to Camelot. He saved my life when he walked in my door with his magic." Gaius informed Arthur. "I taught him all I could, but a lot of what he does is still instinctual."

"Instinctual?" Gwaine asked, as Arthur was staring in silence as Merlin waited at his shield.

"He was born with his magic; he never learnt how to use it until he came to Camelot and couldn't control it himself any more. He never had a say in whether he committed treason or not." Gaius told the group. "He came to Camelot to learn control, because his mother is my niece, but when he turned up, he found his destiny."

"Destiny?" Leon asked this time.

"There is a prophecy, one that all druids know, and one that anyone magical should know." Gaius began.

"The once and future King will reunite Albion and all creatures, magical and non-magical alike will live in harmony and peace." Arthur recited. "He will be helped by Emrys, the most powerful warlock of all time, and Emrys is his protector."

"Yes," Gaius paused for a moment then continued, "You are that King sire, Merlin is Emrys."

All the knights stared in shock at the old man, then at their friend, waiting in the field. They jumped to suddenly hear his voice as if he was standing next to them.

"Talking about me behind my back, Gaius? That's not very nice." Merlin's voice sounded normal, but anyone who knew him could detect the nervousness in his tone. "You should get off the wall, Morgana is coming, and she'll be annoyed that Kilgharrah is destroying her shadow."

"And if you need help?" Gwaine asked, hoping the man could hear him.

Merlin chuckled a little and said, "I appreciate the offer, Gwaine, but it's safest for you to move."

There was a final roar from the dragons, as the Gold one ripped the head off of the shadow one and the shadows dissolved into nothing.

"Just, move if the shield fails." Merlin warned, before they heard Morgana screech and appear at the edge of the forest, opposite Merlin.

She spoke, but none could hear her. Then, all of a sudden, they could.

"You insufferable, interfering nobody! I am sick of your face." She ranted, throwing her hand up and sending a bolt of lightning at Merlin. It hit the shield and disappeared. Merlin didn't even flinch.

Morgana paused, confused at the appearance of the shield. Then she seemed to realise why. "You traitor," she hissed, "You stood there and poisoned me, you stood there and watch me suffer under Uther's rule and said nothing. You've killed your own kind, you've stood by and let the rest of us be slaughtered and suppressed, and done nothing? And you call me the murderer?" Morgana's hatred was clear in her tone and stance, as she stalked up to the shield and stood there in front of Merlin.

"I did what I had to, to protect my King." Merlin sounded calm, and dead serious. "I have killed, yes, but I haven't killed innocent people in a misguided attempt at revenge on a dead man."

"He killed thousands of innocent people! He does not deserve your protection, nor does his son!"

"You are the exact replica of Uther, Morgana, do what you want, but do not lie to yourself about that." Merlin kept his calm and serious tone, as Morgana grew more agitated.

"I am not like him!"

"You are. You think I don't know Uther ordered the death of innocents? I grew up without a father because of him. I watched the midwife who delivered me burn for protecting me, while my mother and I hid from the soldiers. Did you ever go out to the outlying villages? While the purge was happening? Uther slaughtered whole villages for hiding one sorcerer, and piled their bodies in the squares, babies, children, women and men alike, and left them there as warnings. My mother fled our village with me as a child, because our neighbours were suspicious of us, not because they had seen me, but because I was a bastard child without a father because of Uther hunting him down. Friends turned on friends, hell, family turned on family, and you couldn't trust anyone, regardless of whether you had magic or not. God help you if you were caught. People would kill themselves on the soldiers' weapons, because they didn't want to be taken in for trial and the pyre. Do not talk to me about Uther's treachery. He was a misguided old fool who could not admit he was wrong and thought he was doing the world a favour by removing magic. He may have killed innocents, but he also killed a lot of guilty sorcerers and witches, ones who were trying to steal all magic. You should know the stories as well as I, you've spent more time with the druids then me. That does not mean Arthur is his father. I will not let you harm him or Camelot. Leave."

"You and what army? You have a dragon? I'm impressed you had enough magic to enslave him. And I bet all of that magic is focused on this shield of yours, isn't it? You'll break eventually, especially when it's bombarded with my attacks. Do you understand how shields work? They are directly tied to the strength of the sorcerer who cast the spell." Morgana taunted.

"I am warning you Morgana, leave, now and take your army. I won't be so merciful after this." Merlin warned.

"Merciful, you make me laugh. You are nothing but a servant, one who after all this, even if you win, Arthur won't look at you twice. You've lied to him, learnt magic behind his back."

"I'll accept whatever punishment he deems fit for my treason, I did lie to him for 6 years, but you won't be here to see that." Merlin said. His voice was tired and almost regretful. "I am sorry it came to this, Morgana. I really am."

"You shouldn't have tried to poison me then." Morgana spat.

"I did what was necessary to protect Arthur and Camelot. And I will continue to do so." Merlin shrugged, and a roar interrupted their conversation. The shadow dragon as reforming, and the golden one was preparing to fight again.

"You don't have long left to live; you really want your last words to be that?" Morgana laughed. "You are nothing but a servant with a few drops of magic."

"No Morgana, I'm not. You already knew I had magic, but you didn't realise it was me because I looked different." Merlin interrupted.

"Really, do tell, who were you then?" Morgana waved a hand, clearly expecting the boy to have no magic that could harm her .

"Emrys."

Morgana's shocked look was evident to Arthur, even as he stood on the wall watching.

"Impossible. You cannot be that old fool."

"Looks are deceiving Morgana, and I warned you. I warned you and you didn't listen." Merlin sighed, then lifted a hand, sending Morgana backwards.

"You are nothing but a servant!" Morgana screeched, getting to her feet.

Merlin stepped forward, leaving the safety of his shield. The shield rippled where he walked through, but stayed in place. "I am Merlin, son of Balinor, the last Dragonlord alive. I am known as Emrys to the druids, and I will serve the Once and Future King to my last breath. You, Morgana, have nothing compared to me, and you should've left when I gave you the chance."

"_O magni, urere potest hic ades. Ignis ad comburendum igni datum des traditoris sui populi nostri. Dignus dignus est vita_–" Morgana began chanting, but whatever Merlin did when he lifted his hand cut her off. She choked on her words, and fell backwards.

Arthur stared in shock as the shadow dragon disappeared mid-flight, and as his sister's body convulsed. It stopped after a few moments, and Merlin's shoulders slumped down. The spell he had cast so they could hear stopped, as Merlin began talking at Morgana's body but no one heard.

Her body lifted into the air, Merlin controlling it, and the pair disappeared, seemingly blinking out of existence.

"He'll be back sire, to face you." Gaius told the King who was still in shock, "But there is a lot of work to do here until then."

* * *

An hour later, a soldier came running into the throne room where Arthur was listening to reports of damages and trying to sort it all out. The soldier was babbling about flying wood and rocks, causing Arthur and his Knights to walk outside, only to find Merlin standing on the castle wall, hands waving about as the city fixed itself. Houses righted themselves, roofs, walls and glass rebuilding. The wall was already patched up, looking like nothing had ever broken it. The fires were extinguishing themselves, and the burnt material underneath was re-healing.

"Merlin." Arthur called out, approaching the stairs.

He climbed up them, his knights following, as Merlin turned to watch them approach, hands dropping, while the work continued. They were all shocked to see his eyes a shocking bright gold. A few minutes later, the entire city was fixed, and his eyes faded back into his normal blue.

"Merlin." Arthur repeated, seeming to be lost for words.

Merlin smiled sadly and knelt, bowing his head to his King.

"Don't." Arthur gripped the man's arm and pulled him up.

"Sire?" Merlin asked, confusion in his eyes. "I understand, really, I do, I committed treason, I lied to you and I've lied to you the whole time I've known you. I would appreciate it if you didn't kill me, but I understand that I deserved to be punished."

"You have committed treason. You lied to me, all the time. I have no idea what was actually the truth, all those times we've joked and teased and laughed. All the times you've offered me advice, or told me something is wrong, I don't know if any of that was true. You lied about the dragon, you lied about your father. You lied to me." Arthur agreed. "And I'm hurt, and angry and upset you didn't trust me. And I, I can't believe you'd practice magic, it's evil." Arthur frowned.

Merlin stayed quiet, just lowered his head and eyes away from the King.

"And I want to punish you, I want to send you to the stocks for months, I want to yell and scream at you and I want you to confess to everything. But I don't want you gone, or dead, or banished or anything like that." Arthur continued. "Why is that, Merlin? I trusted you, I told you things that no one else knows, I've asked for your advice, and all that time you've lied to me. I have every right to be pissed with you, I have every right to punish you. I am King and you have committed treason."

Arthur sighed, as Merlin didn't speak.

"Why, if I have every right to do so, why don't I want to?" Arthur asked the man, who carefully looked up at the King.

"Sire?" Merlin asked, confused.

"Now you're all respectful? When your fate lies in my hands?" Arthur snapped, all of a sudden, appearing angry.

"No sire, I did not think I had any right to treat you as my friend, not until you had made up your mind about me. All you've said is true, I lied, all the time, to protect myself and you. I've committed treason, albeit, it is a stupid law, I had less say in having magic then you did about being royal."

"How does that work?" Gwaine asked, a little confused.

"Arthur could leave, he never would, because his sense of duty is too bloody strong, but if he truly hadn't wanted to be prince and king, he could've ran away, left the city and became a farmer out in the middle of nowhere. I can run from my magic, I can't get rid of it." Merlin's face tightened with grief and pain, "Trust me, I've tried."

Arthur was silent for another moment, before he pulled his sword out, resting the point against Merlin's chest. Gwaine stepped forward to protest, but Merlin shook his head at the knight, and Leon gripped his arm.

"Tell me why." Arthur demanded. "Tell me why I shouldn't run you through like the traitor you are. Tell me why you don't deserve it."

"I can't." Merlin told him.

"Why not?"

"Because I deserve it." Merlin shrugged slightly, the point of the sword shifted with the man's movement.

Arthur held it there for a few more minutes, then lowered the sword and put it away.

"You aren't banished." Arthur declared. "But you need to leave. You can come back, just, I need you to go."

Merlin studied his king for a moment and then nodded once. "I'll come back when you're ready." Merlin told the blond. "Tell Gaius and Gwen I said bye." With that, Merlin nodded at the knights, bowed to his King and jumped off the wall again. He never hit the bottom, he disappeared halfway down.

"Was that the smartest thing to do? What if we're attacked?" Gwaine asked.

"Whether it was the smartest or not, I need to think." Arthur muttered, before storming off.

The knights all shared a look then followed their King.

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you to you all for reading and to those who reviews an extra thank you! I love to hear from everyone who reads and the fact you've all enjoyed it so far is excellent and I'm so happy my story is entertaining you all. I only hope I can continue to do so :D**

**Enjoy this chapter**

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**Chapter 3**

_Five months later_

Arthur was out hunting with his Knights when they heard a scream. They all rushed to the sound, and ran into a village that was being set on fire by a man laughing crazily. Arthur moved forward to attack, but the man froze, choked and then collapsed on the ground unconscious but still alive with his eyes shut. The fires died out and the village repaired itself.

Arthur stared as Merlin bent over and hoisted the man up over his shoulder, eyes fading back into his normal blue.

The villagers noticed the King and knights and recognised them, immediately crowding around Merlin, as if to protect him.

Arthur frowned, then realised they thought he would kill the man for using magic.

Merlin locked eyes with the King for the longest minute of his life and then nodded once. _Soon._ Merlin mouthed before he disappeared again.

Arthur swallowed hard at the sight of his friend, unable to deal with the rush of anger, pain, betrayal and loss that he felt, and on top of it all, he missed the idiot.

He pushed the feelings away, to deal with later, and moved to the village leader, "Do you need any help with the injured?"

* * *

_Three months later_

Every time they got word of a threat, an animal, a disaster, bandits, anything, by the time the knights and Arthur turned up, the problem had already been taken care of, by a tall, skinny, male brunette, who was always cheerful and would jump in, fix everything then disappear.

Arthur was out with the new knights-to-be, taking them on their first proper hunting trip. He took them the normal pathway, across a narrow bridge over the rapids. The river was notorious for taking lives of those who fell in. The rapids were just under the surface and were strong, even for a good swimmer in naught but his breeches, let alone for a knight in heavy armour.

"Be careful crossing." Arthur warned, before walking carefully yet confidently across. The bridge was rather old, but still in good condition, and it was repaired and replaced every couple of years so it didn't break on anyone.

One of the newbies stepped forward to go next, bravely going first. He began inching his way across, trying to appear cocky and confident, but looking hilarious as he inched his way, feeling with his foot, each step before putting his weight carefully and gingerly down. He was half-way across when there was a snap, and it was almost comical, the way the knight-in-training, Perriman looked up and gave his King a terrified glance. Almost comical.

The bridge snapped, and the knight fell into the water, head dipping under with the currents. _The poor boy didn't stand a chance in full armour. _Arthur realised, regret and grief passing through him. Another newbie stepped forward on the other bank to go after the boy.

Leon, who was waiting with them, stopped the man. Arthur couldn't hear what he said, but he knew Leon. He would've explained softly that there was no hope, nothing they could do.

All of a sudden, the fallen knight was on the bank, near Leon, coughing and spluttering. Leon and the man who stepped forward was at his side in seconds, dragging him out of the shallow water and up onto the dry bank.

Leon looked up at Arthur and pointed behind him. Arthur turned to see Merlin standing nearby, leaning on a tree.

"The bridge is fine to use again, and it won't need replacing, not for a long time." Merlin informed the King, nodding behind the blond. Arthur looked back to see the bridge back in one piece, and looking much more solid than the previous time. Arthur turned back to Merlin, only to find the man gone.

Arthur still spoke, "Thank you."

* * *

_Three months later_

They were in court, celebrating the news that Gwen was pregnant. She was glowing with happiness and pride, and so was Arthur. She had yet to begin showing, but everyone could tell, and they had announced it a week ago.

The feast was meant to celebrate the new life growing, and everyone relaxed, enjoying themselves.

That was their mistake.

Someone snuck in as a guest, and halfway through the main course, she stood up, standing on the table and drawing all attention to herself.

"You will die for taking my spot as Queen of Camelot!" She screeched, as no one could move a muscle. "I will make you pay!"

She lifted a hand to cast a spell at Gwen, but she ended up jerking her arm up to her neck, her face turning red and then blue. She clutched at her throat, clawing at whatever was blocking her throat but finding nothing. She collapsed, and laid still on the table, except for her chest moving up and down, as she was suddenly able to breath again. Arthur looked up to the door, now able to move, and stared as Merlin walked in, gripped the woman's arm and looked up at Gwen and Arthur. His eyes flashed gold, with his other hand pointed at Gwen. A light flew over and settled around her for a moment before disappearing.

Merlin grinned at the Queen and bowed, "Congratulations on your pregnancy, the baby is perfectly healthy." He then disappeared, taking the sorceress with him.

Gaius was at Gwen's side, taking her pulse and asking her questions, making sure the Queen wasn't in shock, while Arthur stared at the spot his friend had been.

This was getting ridiculous, this jumping in, saving the day and jumping out.

* * *

_One month later_

There was yet another attack, this time a neighbouring kingdom, one who wanted magic returned to the world, and one who wanted Camelot as their own. The enemy King and Arthur met in the middle of the two armies, each with a flag-bearer and their second-in-command.

"Can we not sort this out peacefully?" Arthur asked, not wanting to fight this man. He knew they would win, they had the numbers and advantage, but there would still be casualties, and he did not want to kill the opposing force if he did not have to.

"You are just like your father, killing innocents for their gifts and for learning special abilities –"

Arthur cut the man off, "Look, you have an issue with me, we don't need to have a slaughter to decide a winner. My champion against yours, single-combat." Arthur suggested.

"Whoever wins gains the other one's kingdom." The King sneered. "It's either that, or we fight with our armies, and I will win."

_He has sorcerers. If you go into battle with him, it'll be harder for you to win. I'll help, obviously, but single combat will be easier, I'll do it and regardless of whether his champion is a knight or sorcerer, I'll be able to handle it.'_

Arthur managed to school his face so he didn't react to the voice he heard in his head all of a sudden.

_Oh, and you've not gone crazy, although, you already are, kind of, but I can talk to you mentally. Hi._

"Agreed." Arthur offered his hand. Leon didn't make a noise, but Arthur sensed the disapproval radiating off him.

The other King shook the hand offered and smirked, "My champion is ready, so you can chose when to fight."

_Up to you sire, I'm prepared now, but if you want to wait, you know, for suspense of something, I'm fine with that too._

"At midday." Arthur decided, knowing he had a couple of hours until then.

"Very well."

The man walked back to his own army, and Arthur returned to his. They were walking through the ranks to his tent.

"Sire, I know you will fight yourself, and you are an excellent fighter, but what if –" Leon began.

"I'm not fighting." Arthur told the man, who frowned in confusion.

"Luckily, I mean, you'd need me to step in and help either way, and if I did it visibly, then well, it's not single-combat then, is it?"

Merlin appeared out of the crowds, stepping forward from the mass and lowering a hood that was over his face.

"Merlin!" Gwaine called out, also appearing from the crowd.

While Merlin greeted his friend, and the other knights that appeared, Arthur climbed up onto a rock and addressed his men. "At midday there will be single-combat between my champion and theirs. The winner takes all. Kingdom included." Arthur told them all. There was a shocked silence, and Arthur continued, "I won't be fighting; as there is a good chance he will send forward a sorcerer. I should do this in a more formal setting, and I will do so, but as of now, magic is no longer illegal. There will be restrictions, as in no killing, stealing and so on, but you will not be killed for having or learning it. Now, Merlin will be my champion, and will fight for us in two hours from now." Arthur jumped down from his rock and gripped Merlin's arm. He dragged the servant into his tent, and his knights followed.

"Touching speech there, I'm impressed." Merlin grinned, sarcasm evident in his voice.

"I'm sorry." Arthur told the man, whose smile didn't drop, but it did change from a cheeky, sarcastic one to a genuine, warm on.

"I should be the one apologising." Merlin began.

"No, you're my friend. I am still upset you didn't feel like you could trust me to tell me sooner, but I understand, considering the way I reacted. If you hadn't come out as a sorcerer by saving Camelot, I think I would've reacted harshly." Arthur told the man. "I forgive you for lying to me, and for hiding this from me, I only hope you can forgive me for the wrongs I have done."

"You've done nothing wrong Arthur." Merlin argued.

"I've killed people for having magic, stood by while my father killed innocents."

"Quite a lot of the people you actually hunted were evil, or planning to do something nasty and mean to Camelot or you. Uther did kill innocents, but you rarely did."

"How do you know?"

"Where do you think I've been staying this past year? With the druids, they've told me a lot of things Arthur." Merlin grinned. "You were only doing what your father told you, what you believed to be right."

Arthur shook his head, "I disagree, but we don't have time for that. You need to get ready for this fight."

"I'm ready," Merlin shrugged, "It's not that hard to get ready. It's not like I need to put armour on or anything, I've got my magic."

Arthur grimaced, "I forgot, you won't even consider armour?"

"It'll slow me down and make me more vulnerable." Merlin shook his head. "I'm more interested in hearing about your wife and your children that are on their way."

"Gwen's going fine." Arthur smiled fondly in memory of his pregnant wife. "Wait," Arthur froze, "children?"

"Woops, wasn't supposed to tell you that yet, was I?" Merlin winked at the blonde. "Oh well, she's pregnant with twins."

"Twins?" Arthur repeated, staring in shock.

"Yep, two boys."

Looking back, Arthur would always argue he wasn't that shocked, but in reality, he spent the rest of the two hours in a stupor, shocked he was going to be a father to twin boys. Merlin made sure to tell everyone that, while Arthur made sure to deny it.

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

**Well I'm sooo impressed by the amount of feedback and popularity this story has had, and I'm extremely glad to have entertained you all :) hopefully the rest of the story is up to your expectations as well.**

**Thank you for reviewing so far! and please keep it up! I love to hear feedback so I can improve on whatever I am doing wrong.**

**Enjoy xxx**

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**Chapter 4**

They stood in the middle of the two armies, in no-man's land, Merlin and Arthur, as the other King and his champion stepped forward. The champion was as tall as Percival, and just as solidly built. He wore no armour, but held a sword in his grip as if it were a toothpick.

"Ready?" Arthur asked the man.

"Ready. This is your second? He looks weak."

"He is my champion, and looks can be deceiving." Arthur defended his friend.

"Very well, let's leave our champions to fight." The King moved back twenty metres, and Arthur mimicked the man.

Merlin looked comical next to the other champion, with no weapon and no armour.

_'I forgot to ask, quick, painless victory? Or draw it out and make it seem like I'm struggling?'_

Arthur jumped slightly at the voice in his head, but managed to cover it.

'_Quick and painless, I decided without you.'_ Merlin suddenly sent, not even waiting for a response.

Arthur watched as his friend and advisor grin at the man, who lunged forward with a growl, swinging the sword down. Arthur managed to keep his mouth from dropping open as Merlin did something and ended up with one foot on the man's back, the man's own sword in his hand and Merlin was standing there with a calm, serious expression.

Merlin jerked away, for some unknown reason, and the man climbed to his feet.

Merlin's eyes flashed gold as he blocked the fireball the other man conjured and the ball was reflected back, hitting the man dead on. Instead of burning him, it knocked him out cold, the man falling down with a large thud.

"I do not want to kill unnecessarily." Merlin announced, "I think it's safe to say Camelot are the winners."

"Conceded." The other King said, still in shock.

Arthur stepped forward and offered his hand, "I have no desire to take your kingdom from you," Arthur began, "I know that was the terms, but I do not wish to take it from you. Leave, and never attack Camelot again, and I will leave you in charge of your kingdom."

"I swear I will never attack Camelot again." The other King agreed, still staring at Merlin in shock. "I must ask though," He raised his voice, so Merlin heard as well, "Are you Emrys?"

"Yes." Merlin nodded once.

The King stared at Arthur in shock and suddenly bowed to the pair, "Forgive me for my attempt at war, I humbly accept any punishment you deem necessary and –"

"There is no need for that, take your army, never attack Camelot again and we will be allies." Merlin interrupted.

"Of course my Lord, of course, you are gracious as you are kind." The king murmured, before scurrying away. Two men came out and took the unconscious champion and the army turned tail and left.

"Why did he react like that to you?" Arthur asked Merlin.

"To me and to you, surely Gaius explained?" Merlin asked.

"I wouldn't let him, I wanted to hear it from you." Arthur confessed, blushing slightly.

"The Once and Future King is destined for greatness Arthur. I've told you before, I believe in the world you're going to rule. Well, there's a prophecy about it as well, and anyone who knows anything worth knowing knows of it as well. There have been several people to claim they are the Once and Future King, but none had the proof."

"Proof?"

"Emrys." Merlin grinned at Arthur lopsidedly. "Emrys is his protector and will stand by the Once and Future King, no matter what. The druids could tell if the person claiming to be Emrys was a fake, and therefore, they knew that the man claiming to be the King was wrong."

"So you went up to the druids and asked if you were Emrys?"

"No, I denied it at first, told the dragon he had the wrong prat and the wrong warlock." Merlin laughed at the fond memory, "He said that it was my destiny to protect you from being killed, and I said no, I'd much prefer to help them get rid of you. To be fair though, you were a bit of a stuck-up prat to me, putting me in the stocks and all." Merlin turned and began walking back to the army. "Come on sire, time to pack up and go home."

"You wanted me dead?"

"No, I just didn't want to save you, to begin with. But then I did, at the feast with Lady Helen and the witch who took her face as a cover. It was a reflex, I didn't even think about using magic in front of the court, or in front of Uther, but all I knew was she was going to kill you, and I could stop her. And I haven't stopped since then."

"I think, we need to sit down and go through everything, all the things you've done for me." Arthur declared.

Merlin's cheerful smile dropped, "Of course sire, but I must warn you, I have done things I'm not proud of. I did whatever was necessary to protect you and Camelot, regardless of whether it was morally right or wrong."

"I know Merlin, I won't judge you." Arthur told the man, "I've not spent the past year doing nothing. I have thought about it, and I realised a couple of major things."

"Yeah?"

"You were the sorcerer I went to ask to heal my father. And you didn't kill him, Gaius showed me the amulet that reversed your spell."

"I am sorry sire, I wished to show you magic was good, and if I hadn't put so much into the spell, Uther may have survived, but I was so desperate to show you the truth." Merlin apologised.

"I know, I was angry, at first. For a while, actually. I actually began sending search parties out to find you so I could yell at you, and at the time I felt like I would've, well, I would've done something I regretted, had I found you. Gwen calmed me down and helped me through it."

Merlin stayed quiet.

"But I also realised, that you can't have been lying about everything to me. I mean, you are a horrible liar, seriously, about anything that wasn't to do with covering up your magic. So your clumsiness, our friendship, you omitted a pretty damn important thing, and lied to hide that, but you can't have lied about all I knew about you. So I can say with some certainty lying to us, hiding your magic, it would've tormented you. It would've been far worse punishment then I, or any man could've ordered for you, yet you put up with it to stay by my side and protect me."

"Well, someone has to. And trust me, it'll be a lot easier now I can just do it openly, and not worry about having to hide it from you."

"I'm just surprised you haven't blown something up by accident yet, or unleashed some unknown horror on the city because you tripped over or something."

"Well,"

"Merlin?"

"Yes, sire?"

"What did you do?"

"You remember the goblin?"

"You didn't?"

"It was an accident, I swear, and I caught him again and put him back in his box, I swear."

"MERLIN!"

"I'm sorry!"

* * *

The army returned to Camelot, quite cheerful they didn't have to fight. Arthur and his knights dismounted from their horses right in front of the castle. Merlin had no horse, so had taken to riding double with the knights, alternating every so often. He hopped off Gwaine's horse, and grinned at the man. "Thanks for the ride."

"Anytime mate. It's good to have you back." Gwaine hugged the man with one arm as he dismounted as well.

"Arthur!" Gwen called out, appearing from the castle and walking down the steps quickly. Well, waddled down the steps. Halfway down, she tripped, her foot getting caught on her hem and she let out a shriek as she fell forward, her hands not going out to break her fall, but to wrap around her stomach protectively.

Arthur and his knights all lurched forward, despite all of them being too far away to catch the Queen. They all stopped in surprise as Merlin was suddenly there, catching her gently.

Gwen stared at the man in shock, "Merlin?"

"Hi Gwen." Merlin grinned, "You're almost as clumsy as me now."

"Merlin!" Gwen screeched, throwing her arms around him and hugging him.

"Um, hi?" Merlin hugged her back, glancing over his shoulder as Arthur approached, confusion all over his face. Merlin patted her back gently as her shoulders began shaking and she began sobbing. The confusion on his face turned to panic.

"I had no idea if you were OK or not, and I've been so worried." Gwen sobbed.

"Um, I'm fine?"

"Gwen, you're scaring the poor boy." Arthur pointed out.

"Don't you dare talk!" Gwen suddenly pulled away from Merlin and glared at her husband, who stepped down one step, away from his wife. "You sent him away with nothing and just expected him to be fine and then go off to battle and –" Gwen cut herself off, "Oh, you're back early, what happened?"

"We had single-armed combat instead. Merlin won for us." Arthur explained. "Let's go inside, and I'll explain to the council as well. There's a few laws I have to change."

Gwen grinned brightly at Merlin who smiled just as widely back.

* * *

**TBC**


	5. Chapter 5

**I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you all :D**

**Sorry for the delay, I had a long run of SACs (exam-style tests) for school.**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed and favourite this story! I'm soo pleased with the response I have gotten.**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

"OK, so now magic isn't illegal." Arthur began, a week after the whole army and battle and Merlin returning. He had called a meeting of the Round Table, and all the knights, Gwen, Gaius and Merlin were present.

"Thanks for stating the obvious." Merlin muttered.

Arthur ignored him, "And I think it's time for you to tell us everything Merlin. It's only fair."

Merlin sat up straight in his chair, and a look of uncertainty and unease crossed his face.

"You owe us that, Merlin." Arthur spoke softly.

"I know," Merlin nodded, licking his lips nervously, "I've just, there's a lot to get through, and I think all of it at once will be too much for you all to handle."

Gwen spoke up, "We won't think less of you Merlin. We won't judge you and we won't hate you for lying to us. We all understand why you did."

"I know, I do," Merlin smiled warmly at the Queen, "But I'm not worried about you hating me for lying to you, I'm worried about you hating me for the things I've chosen to do."

"You did what was the best for Camelot." Arthur cut in. "That's all I care about. Regardless of what those actions were."

"Merlin, perhaps you should start at why your mother sent you to me?" Gaius suggested, able to tell his ward had no idea how to explain.

"Right. Yeah, OK." Merlin seemed to collect himself and then he began. "I was born with my magic, I never learnt anything about it until after I came to Camelot. I was able to move things and slow down time since I was a baby. Made life hectic for my mum, I can tell you that. But we managed. I never told anyone. That was the only thing mum punished me for. I used magic in the garden once, and she locked me in my room for a week and spanked me every night. As a four year old who never so much got yelled at, I can tell you, that was traumatic. So I learnt to hide it, to suppress the instinct to use it to help people or just myself." Merlin paused then continued, "No one knew until I was 14. My best friend, Will didn't know yet, and we were playing by the river in our village. He fell in and would've drowned. The current was too strong and I had no hope of physically pulling him out. I didn't even think about the consequences, I just reacted and pulled him out. He was shocked, which is an understatement, but I ran, I hid in my house for two weeks, refusing to go out. I told my mum at the end of the two weeks what was wrong, and she didn't say anything, just began packing our stuff. That night Will came barging into our house, punched me in the shoulder and yelled at me for ignoring him. He then realised we were packing and then began yelling at me for being an idiot and thinking he would tell anyone." A smile crossed Merlin's face as he remembered it fondly. "He was the only other person, who knew, other than my mum, and she didn't approve of someone else knowing, but she saw how happy I was around Will, so we stayed. And Will was not the best influence on me. He begged me to show him tricks, like floating and moving things or making the flowers grow and stuff. We pulled pranks on our neighbours, but were never caught because I would use my magic and we would run away laughing like mad men. When I hit 18, my magic had grown so much, and I couldn't control it anymore. I would get angry and something would blow up. I would be happy and everything would be levitating around me, the furniture, the rocks, everything. I would be sad and a storm would come across. The people in the village were suspecting something was wrong, and I reckon they had to have known but hadn't said anything, but mother was scared, so she sent me to Gaius, who she knew could help me learn how to control the magic again."

"She sent you to the castle where magic is forbidden and the smallest hint of magic was burnt?" Gwaine asked, a little confused.

"We had no other choice. Gaius was the only one she knew could teach me, and that she could trust not to hand me to Uther on a silver platter." Merlin explained.

"So you came to Camelot, and just told Gaius you had magic?" Arthur asked, shocked at the recklessness of that plan.

"No, mum didn't tell me I was meant to tell Gaius. I wasn't going to either."

"Then why did you?" Leon asked.

"He didn't. Not exactly, anyway." Gaius spoke up. "He turned up in my chambers, but I didn't hear him. I was upstairs on a ladder, looking for a book."

"Where the railing had rotted?" Gwen asked, having seen the broken railing herself.

"Yes. I was surprised when he called up, and turned, stepped back and fell through, the wood giving way under me." Gaius explained. "I would've died, but all of a sudden I found my bed under me, even though that wasn't where it had been, and my fall had been slowed down. I landed harmlessly on the bed and was shocked. I knew it had to have been magic, but was shocked that someone would be so careless as to perform such things with the door wide open and in the heart of Camelot. And I was confused as to what spell he used to slow me down and how he did so without speaking."

"He kept badgering me about where I had been taught and how had I cast the spell and I couldn't answer any of the questions because, well I was denying I did anything and I hadn't actually done any of the things he was asking." Merlin continued.

"He explained he was Hunith's boy and said he just did it, and that it happened around him."

"I asked him not to tell anyone, and he agreed, and then thanked me." Merlin finished.

"And that's how it happened? Gaius found out about you before he even met you, even though you were meant to be hiding?" Elyan asked, shocked the boy hadn't been found out until now.

"Yes. I know, I got better at lying, trust me on that." Merlin rolled his eyes, "even though I'm not too proud that I had to get better at lying."

"So then what happened?" Gwen asked, trying to get back to the story-telling.

"I met Arthur, called him some names and spend the night in the cells. Gaius got me out as long as I went into the stocks for the rest of the day, and I met you, Gwen. The second time I met Arthur, I tried to stay silent and not do anything, but that didn't work and we ended up fighting. I used my magic to trip you up here and there to teach you a lesson, but I saw Gaius in the crowd and stopped, as he gave me his glare."

"My glare?" Gaius asked, confused.

"Yeah, you know, the one eyebrow raised glare. It radiates disapproval and very guilt-inducing." Merlin shrugged.

"I agree." Arthur shrugged. "Sorry Gaius, but it's true.

"Hmm." Gaius frowned thoughtfully.

"Anyway, that night, after you let me go, I heard someone calling my name and followed it into the dungeons and down under the castle where the dragon was chained up. He told me that my destiny was to protect Arthur and that we were two sides of the same coin." Merlin explained. "I told him that he had the wrong Arthur and that I wasn't going to protect a prat. I also said that if someone was trying to kill the man, I would help them." Merlin grinned lopsidedly at Arthur, who mock-glared for a second, before sighing loudly and grinning back.

"Understandable you would want the Princess dead, he was being a real bastard." Gwaine agreed.

"I know. The Dragon laughed at me and flew off, saying I couldn't escape destiny. The next night I saved Arthur's life and was appointed the very honourable position of being his manservant." Merlin rolled his eyes. "I still don't see how me saving your life is rewarded with becoming your personal servant."

"How'd you save his life?" Percival asked, as he hadn't been in Camelot at the time.

"A witch cast a spell, putting everyone to sleep and was going to stab Arthur, for revenge on Uther for killing her son, but my magic kept me awake. I dropped the chandelier on the woman, and then as she threw the dagger in a last-ditch attempt, I slowed down time so I could move Arthur out of the way."

"Thank you for that." Arthur said quietly.

"Don't thank me for the times I've saved your life. Wait until the end." Merlin warned.

"Either way, thank you."

"So you saved Arthur's life and became his manservant?" Gwaine prompted.

"Yes, and he worked me non-stop and past the point of ridiculous. Between him and Gaius, I skipped meals to get all the work done and I hated it. Arthur would insult me and beat me up in 'training' then insist on me doing all the chores in a ridiculous amount of time." Merlin glared at the King who looked a little sheepish and guilty. "I resorted to doing magic to get it all done in time to begin with, while I slept and read my book –"

"Book?" Gwen asked.

"A magic book, one of the only ones I had left. I gave it to him." Gaius explained. "I walked into his room and found him reading it while Arthur's armour polished itself, his boots were scrubbing themselves and his swords were being sharpened in mid-air."

"He yelled at me for misusing magic. Or was that when I tried to read the book and turn the page with my magic?" Merlin asked Gaius, confused.

"Both times." Gaius corrected.

"Ah, anyway. While all this was happening, There was that tournament, and while Gwen taught me how to put armour on, you were fighting the competitors, and Sir Valiant was plotting to kill you." Merlin gestured to Arthur. "That was not fun. Let me tell you that. After you didn't believe me and was going to fight Valiant anyway, I had to do something to help, so I, ah, borrowed a dog statue and stayed up all night, practicing this spell I found. It was only in the morning, when your fight was just about to begin that I managed to get it to work and I raced out to the battlefield. I summoned the snakes and everyone saw how Valiant was using magic."

"And then I killed him." Arthur nodded, "That makes much more sense, I could never understand why he summoned the snakes in front of everyone."

"He didn't. I did." Merlin grinned.

"Wait, so you did save his life even after saying you wouldn't?" Gwaine asked.

Merlin nodded, "And it was around then that I changed my mind about being his manservant. Up until that point, I had no reason for my magic except as a hindrance. I had to hide it, lie to people, run away if they suspected me and it only caused problems. Everyone believed magic to be evil and bad, and if I was born with it, didn't that make me inherently evil? Or at least a freak of nature?" Merlin explained.

"You're not evil or a freak!" Gwen protested.

Merlin smiled softly at her, "I know that now." He explained gently, "But I grew up hiding who I am, and listening to everyone talk about how evil magic was. I didn't understand how they could all think it was evil, when it did such wonderful things, and reasoned that if I enjoyed and liked what magic was, then if it was evil, I must be evil as well. But then I had a purpose. I could use my magic to save Arthur, and prove that it wasn't evil. Prove that it wasn't evil to me." Merlin looked down at the table and was silent for a bit.

"You ain't evil mate, if you could, you would stop us from hunting." Gwaine joked.

"Well, he can, actually." Leon pointed out.

All the knights (Elyan, Percival, Leon and Gwaine) stared at one another than at Merlin. "All those times we've picked on you and pulled pranks," Leon began.

"I could've returned the pranks with countless of things, things you would never see coming, yes. And don't think I won't, now you all know." Merlin grinned cheekily and the knights all fell silent, a little worried all of a sudden.

"Moving on." Arthur spoke loudly, "Keep going, that's only up to your third day in Camelot. You've been here several years."

"And been through a lot. I know. It'll take time to get through everything, perhaps we should take a break, let certain people go to the toilet and get some food." Merlin suggested, grinning at Gwen who nodded eagerly.

"Of course." Arthur said. Gwen was up and gone in seconds.

The knights all laughed.

"Don't laugh!" Gwen shouted back. "You'll regret it!"

The knights all fell silent again.

* * *

**TBC**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewed! Sorry this one is a bit late.**

**Enjoy :D**

**Chapter 6**

Once Gwen had returned with a plate of fruit and cheese, Merlin continued in his story. "So, after I had decided to make it my job to protect you and Camelot, my days got much busier. There was the Afanc in the water supply, poisoning everyone."

"You healed my father! I knew you had something to do with it!" Gwen realised.

Merlin nodded, "I am, and I am sorry for being so stupid as to do so obviously. I hated not being able to help anyone, and then you were so distraught, I couldn't stand by when I knew I could heal him. So I did, and I stupidly left the poultice there. You were framed, which I should've thought of."

"Don't apologise, I should be thanking you. I wasn't killed, so there was no harm done." Gwen spoke stubbornly.

Merlin looked uncertain for a moment, but let the subject dropped, "The creature was summoned by Nimueh, a High Priestess of the Old Religion. She was angry we thwarted her plans and came to Camelot to poison me to kill me." Merlin explained.

"The goblet, she knew you would have to drink it after announcing it as poisoned." Arthur realised.

"Yes. She was the one who played the terrified servant, saying she had seen the King do something to it. I wasn't going to let you drink it, and I had no other choice but to drink it. She knew you would head into the caves and try to save me, and set up the trap to kill you. She didn't know you'd make it out alive." Merlin explained.

"I suppose the light was you as well then? That's the only reason I made it out." Arthur asked.

"Light?" Merlin asked, confused.

"That wasn't you?" Arthur asked, confused.

"Yes sire, it was him." Gaius spoke up. "I had thought he was delirious as the poison was setting in, but he had been watching you in the caves, and cast the spell to help you."

"You said he wasn't speaking in any language!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Gwen, if I was casting a spell, I would've been speaking in the Old Tongue, and Gaius telling you that would've given away my magic." Merlin pointed out.

"Oh, right." Gwen grinned at her foolishness.

"But, if Gaius said I was, then yes, Arthur, that was me." Merlin shrugged.

"You didn't even know you cast magic while unconscious and on your deathbed?" Leon asked, amazed at the man's power.

Merlin looked embarrassed, "Well, no, I was hallucinating a lot then. I had no idea what was real or dreams, and even then, I had no idea whether I was actually doing the magic or if it was all my imagination."

"OK, so you saved my life while I was trying to save yours." Arthur tried to bring the talk back on topic. "Then what?"

"Lancelot saved me from the griffon." Merlin said. "I used my magic to copy a seal so he could pretend to be nobility, which he didn't want to do but I pushed him into doing." Arthur opened his mouth to speak but Merlin cut him off. "It was a stupid rule."

"It was still the law."

"Regardless." Merlin shrugged. "I enchanted Lancelot's lance so it would kill the griffon and he saw."

"Wait, you told Lancelot you had magic and you didn't tell me?" Gwaine demanded.

"I didn't tell anyone. I've never told anyone, really. They've all found out in some way or the other, but yes, Lancelot knew. He left Camelot because he didn't want to take the credit for the griffon, as he didn't believe he was responsible for killing it. Which is nonsense, since he threw the bloody weapon." Merlin grumbled.

Arthur stared at Merlin for a moment before saying, "Continue."

Merlin studied his King for a moment then said, "I didn't choose to tell Lancelot before you, Arthur. I even considered wiping his memory a few times, but I couldn't do that to him. He was my friend, and as selfish as it seems, I needed someone who knew about me. Other than Gaius. You weren't ready to face the fact magic isn't evil, so I couldn't tell you."

"I know." Arthur spoke. "I promised myself no matter what the truth is, I would not get angry at you. You had no choice but to do what you had to, to stay hidden and protect yourself while protecting Camelot. I'm hurt you trusted Lancelot over me, but I understand. Keep talking."

Merlin nodded slowly and continued, "The Edwin turned up, and 'healed' Morgana. He had put an Elanthia Beetle in her brain. They eat their host's brain, not stopping until the host is dead. He healed her by deactivating it and removing it before it did any major damage. He caused Gaius to get sacked and he knew I had magic."

"How?" Gwen asked.

"He probably sensed it. I could sense his and I didn't have the training he did. I thought he was on my side, he offered to teach me, and I trusted him. I walked into his room only to find him about to kill Gaius. He gloated about killing Uther and was going to kill Gaius, offering me a place by his side. I killed him and then healed Uther."

"You saved my father?" Arthur asked, surprised.

"I deactivated the beetle, but told Gaius told him Edwin had infected him with a magical potion, and that he had found an old remedy and had been able to save him in time." Merlin explained. "I didn't want the credit, I was happy to stay under Uther's radar and let Gaius have the fame and gratitude." Merlin explained, before Arthur could ask about it. "Then came Sophia and her father, Aulfric."

Arthur groaned, "You swore you would never mention them again."

"I did, but you also wanted to know the truth about everything." Merlin shrugged.

"Fine, explain."

"Long story short, they were Sidhe, small, pixie-like creatures that had been banished for crimes Aulfric had committed. He wanted Sophia to be accepted back into their city, and the only way to do that was to sacrifice a mortal prince to the city, so naturally, they targeted the prince destined for greatness and all that." Merlin sighed, "That seems to happen a lot, you getting targeted for being Arthur Pendragon, it's rather annoying."

"Sorry for being my amazing self." Arthur grinned.

"Yeah right." Merlin snorted. "Sophia put you under a spell to do whatever she wanted, and they tried to drown you in the river. I managed to stop them and drag you out of the water and back into Camelot, which was not easy, thank you very much; you are extremely heavy in armour." Merlin complained. "I told you that you tried to elope and I had to knock you out, because well, I wasn't going to tell you that pixies tried to kill you and I being my awesome magical self managed to rescue you."

"You believed Merlin knocked you out?" Gwen asked, surprised at her husband.

"Gaius was there as well and backed his story up." Arthur defended himself. "I wasn't going to question him."

"But you would've doubted me?" Merlin asked, acting hurt.

"Oh shut up Merlin, you know I would've." Arthur taunted.

"I'll turn you back into a donkey if you're not careful." Merlin threatened.

"That was you?" Arthur demanded.

"No, the goblin, but I know how to. And it was rather hilarious." Merlin grinned.

"Merlin, please continue telling us about your adventures, I am itching to know more." Leon interrupted, to stop the argument that was brewing.

"Right, well, after Sophia was Mordred, and that's not something I'm proud of." Merlin fidgeted in his seat for a moment.

"We won't judge you." Gwen said softly.

Merlin smiled sadly at her, "You will, and I'm OK with that, I just, I still don't know if I made the right decision. I heard Mordred crying for help in my head, it's something our magic allows us to do." Merlin began explaining. "I didn't mean to, but I took him to Morgana's room while we were running from the guards. She hid him and we tried to heal him. Obviously we were caught, well, Morgana was, I wasn't, and he was going to be hung. Morgana convinced Arthur to rescue him and help him escape. He was just a boy, after all." Merlin let out a sigh and continued. "While we waited for night, I spoke with the dragon. He told me that I should let Mordred be captured and killed. He told me that the boy was evil and would be the death of Arthur." Merlin kept his eyes on the table as Gwen gasped softly. "I had to choose, I had to choose between letting a child be killed or letting him live and later on kill Arthur. But how did I know the dragon was telling the truth? How did I know Mordred would really be the death of Arthur? How could I choose between being the murderer of a child or possibly being the reason for my King's death?" Merlin whispered. "I couldn't. In the end, I chose to do nothing. I was going to stay in my room all night, and just let Arthur and Mordred be captured. Arthur would've been punished, but Mordred would've been killed and we would all be safe."

"But you didn't stay in your room." Arthur pointed out.

"That's why I was late to helping you. I wasn't going to come. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't ignore Mordred and be the cause of his death. I knew what it was like to fear fire, I knew what it was like to live in fear of your life, and to feel isolated because no one else was like me. I saw myself in him, and I couldn't just leave him to die."

"You chose the right thing Merlin." Arthur told his friend. "Whether he comes back to try and kill me or not. You chose to do the right thing, and save a boy who had done nothing wrong. He may do plenty of evil and wrong things in the future, but he was an innocent at the time."

Merlin smiled sadly at the table top and said, "We'll see, but I appreciate the attempt to reassure me sire."

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now. Explain to me why you needed my father's best sword." Gwen changed the topic.

"The wraith that came to fight Uther, that ended up killing two knights and would've killed you, Arthur, if given the chance, could not have been killed by ordinary weapons. I begged the dragon on how to kill it, and he finally cracked, and told me only a weapon burnished in dragon's fire could slay an immortal being. I asked for the sword, the dragon burnished it and ordered me to only ever let Arthur use it. It is a powerful weapon and in the wrong hands, it could bring down civilisations."

"But, my father fought in my place." Arthur pointed out.

"Yes, and Kilgharrah was not happy with me."

"Kilgharrah?"

"The Great Dragon. He was angry and demanded I hid the sword where no one could use it. So I took it to the waters of Avalon, a lake that is no ordinary lake, and threw it into the water. It would've stayed there forever, had I not needed it again."

"When?" Gwaine asked.

"I'll get to it. It's going to get confusing if I don't explain in order, trust me." Merlin grinned at his friend.

"So then what?"

"Then we went to Ealdor." Merlin's smile dropped and his eyes dropped back down to the table. "And Will died, protecting me and my secret, and saving you."

"He claimed to be the sorcerer, so you would be safe." Gwen realised.

"Yes. He knew I hadn't told any of you, and he knew I was living a lie, but I told him I had to, I had to protect my friends and he had gotten angry with me and stormed off. I hadn't expected to see him fighting, but he came, and saved your life, and protected me, even though he was right. I considered you my friend Arthur, and I like to think you considered me a friend by then as well. But I was living a lie, because you didn't know. And I was going to tell you, before the battle, but Morgana interrupted and I lost any courage I may have had."

"I considered you my friend before that, and I still do, despite knowing the truth now." Arthur told the man, who met the King's eyes with a small smile.

"Thank you sire." Merlin whispered.

"Keep talking, I'm excited to hear more now. What else did we miss while not being in Camelot?" Gwaine asked, aware the King and Warlock needed a change of topic off touchy-feely things before they began insulting each other.

"Morgana." Merlin sighed. "Well, there was the whole unicorn thing, but I didn't do anything during that, that was all Arthur. But Morgana showed her first act of treason and betrayal."

"Wait, that early on?" Arthur asked, surprised.

"She didn't follow through with it, but when Uther had Gwen's father killed, she was angry, and arranged to have him killed in retaliation. She couldn't follow through with it, and ended up helping to protect him, but she nearly did it. That was the beginning, but I thought, because she showed true remorse and regret at ever considering to kill Uther, she was alright. That was my mistake."

"But surely she would see other sorcerers who were evil and decide that some magic was evil, and Uther had been right in killing those evil ones?" Gwen asked.

Merlin stared at her in surprise.

"I mean, not that all magic is evil, but there are those who are, not that you're one of them Merlin, nor was Morgana to begin with and –" Gwen tried to explain.

"I know what you mean Gwen, and she was exposed to that influence, but it was her sister, so Morgana didn't think she was evil." Merlin explained.

"Did she know about that High Priestess? Nim, Nimueh or something?" Leon asked.

"Nimueh, and no, she was killed before Morgana could meet her." Merlin shook his head.

"She was killed? I always wondered what happened to her, how?" Arthur asked.

Regret and shame passed over his face and Merlin sighed, "I killed her."

**TBC**


	7. Chapter 7

**I hope you enjoy this next chapter as much as the rest of them :D**

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed! 3**

**Chapter 7**

"I don't know why you expect us to treat you differently every time you confess to doing something." Arthur began, "As you have to know by now, we've all done things we're not proud of, but your actions and all of our actions have been to protect those in trouble and the innocents who are caught up in whatever trouble is going on."

Merlin was silent, taking in Arthur's words and then began to explain, "The Questing Beast's bit is fatal. Nothing can heal it."

"I survived it, with that potion or something you found that was old and forgotten about." Arthur pointed out. "Well, that's what you said, that's not true, is it?"

"No. I couldn't heal you. I tried. I did all I could, but I couldn't heal you, so I asked the dragon. He told me of the Isle of the Blessed, where I could find a way to heal you, but that there would be a price. I left for it and found Nimueh waiting there for me. The Old Religion cannot just grant life, it must come from somewhere. So I offered my life in place of yours. After all, you were the Prince and I just a manservant who lied to everyone. She accepted the bargain, and I returned to Camelot with water from the Cup of Life. You woke up, and I went to bed, not expecting to wake up."

"That's why you were acting so weird, you were trying to say goodbye, without saying goodbye." Arthur realised, remembering the confusion he had felt.

"Yes. I went to bed and woke up confused. I went outside, and found Gaius crouching over my mother, who was ill and dying." Merlin continued. Gwen gasped, remembering the sickness. "Nimueh had tricked me. She had used my mother's life, not mine, because I was destined for greatness, not to die then. I was angry. I was so angry with her. I checked on Arthur, and went back to say goodbye to Gaius, as it was my mess to fix and I was going to make her take my life for my mother's. He was gone. The old fool had decided his life was worth less that mine, and was going to offer his in place of my mother's, instead of me." Merlin glared half-heartedly at the old man who kept a straight face. "I turned up as Nimueh finished the bargain, and she turned and laughed at me. I demanded her to fix this and stick to the original bargain, take my life and she attacked me, wanting me dead. She thought she killed me, when she hit me with an attack, but I survived it and killed her. I used her life in return for Gaius', and he woke up." Merlin finished.

"You did what was right and necessary." Arthur told the man, who nodded.

"I know, I still don't like it. I don't like killing people."

"And that is all the proof anyone needs to determine you as a good man, not a freak, monster or evil." Arthur claimed.

Merlin gave him a look and smiled warmly, "It's weird, having you practically praise me, especially after how you used to behave towards me."

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Sire, you did treat him rather badly in the past at times." Gaius spoke up. "You replaced him with Cedric."

"The lying bastard that he was." Merlin muttered.

"Who is this Cedric?" Gwaine asked, confused.

"We found a tomb under the castle, full of riches and jewels and a coffin. Uther was ecstatic, despite the traps set up that killed one worker," Merlin began.

"And would have killed me if not for Merlin's fast thinking." Gaius cut in.

"Anyway, word got around, and a man named Cedric heard, and decided he would get the key off Arthur and then steal riches from the tomb. He appeared in the courtyard one day, went on and on about Arthur being amazing and how much of an honour it was to stand at his feet and so on and so on. Arthur invited him along on a hunt, and while we were hunting, this massive boar charged the party."

"I would've died if he hadn't thrown that spear, no matter what he did after that, he did save my life." Arthur pointed out.

Merlin snorted and shook his head sadly. "No Arthur, he didn't. He dropped his spear and moved backwards, just like everyone else. I used my magic to send the spear into the boar. He took credit for it, which I am glad, because I wasn't found out then, but that showed me that he was a lying bastard to begin with."

"And Arthur just handed him the keys?" Gwaine asked, confused.

"No, I made him my manservant as well." Arthur muttered, cheeks slightly red with embarrassment.

The knights glared at Arthur, shocked the King betrayed Merlin like that.

"It's fine guys, he was just being a prat." Merlin defended the man.

"Why do I get the feeling you're leaving a lot of details out?" Gwen asked all of a sudden. "I mean, I'm not accusing you of lying again, but you are modest Merlin, you could be talking down your abilities and actions."

Merlin stared in shock at her.

"I agree," Arthur spoke up. "How would we know?"

Merlin looked uncomfortable for a minute then said, "The only way for you to know what actually happened, without worrying about me changing details, would be for me to show you my memories."

"Would you?" Arthur asked, "If you are happy to do so, only if you are. I want to know what you've been through, without you watering it down and playing it down, but only if you are happy to."

Merlin studied the table, deep in thought.

"Merlin, what spell are you considering?" Gaius asked, concerned for his ward.

"What?" Merlin looked about confused then shook his head, "No spell, it's a trick I used to do with Will, I, um, I don't know how to explain it, but I kind of bring you guys into my head, then remember everything and you guys can watch it." Merlin shrugged, "I don't mind, sire, you are my King, but like I said earlier, I've done things I'm not proud of."

"We won't judge you." Gwen repeated gently.

"One question before we do this, why does Gaius looked shocked?" Elyan asked, studying the old man who was staring at his ward.

"You just share your memories? My boy, I keep forgetting you've not been taught." Gaius mumbled. "Speaking mind to mind is a unique gift, and hard to master, sharing memories is another level of difficulty."

Merlin just grinned boyishly and shrugged, "Another thing to add to the list of things I shouldn't be able to do?"

"How old were you when you first did this?" Gaius asked.

"Consciously? About 15. But I can remember having weird dreams as a child, where I was my mother, basically. I figure now I must've been going into her head." Merlin shrugged.

"You never cease to amaze me Merlin, the fact you treat that as insignificant." Gaius muttered, shaking his head.

"Well it is to me, I've been able to do it for so long. I just don't because, well, it's essentially mind reading. I can enter your mind and watch your memories and thoughts, or I can bring you into mine, and show you mine. Surely that's a little on the rude side and overstepping some boundaries?"

The knights and Arthur stared at the boy in surprise.

"Merlin, you may never understand just how much you amaze me. Some of the things you could do, yet you don't, because of your sense of what is right and wrong." Gaius gazed at the boy fondly. "Now come on, even I'm interested in actually seeing what happened to you, not just what you told me."

"Right, well, I'll start with Cedric, and just move on from there." Merlin muttered, shutting his eyes as they flashed gold. All the knights, Arthur, Gwen and Gaius all shut their eyes as well, but they didn't realise, as they suddenly found themselves in fog. They could see each other, but all around them was a fog that stretched in every direction.

Merlin appeared in front of them, and grinned. He sat down, but so he was floating, and gestured for everyone to do the same. They all did so gingerly, afraid of falling, but realised when there was no ground, you couldn't fall over.

"So, Arthur made Cedric his manservant, and after I screwed up, he ordered me to take the night off, and consider if I really wanted to be his servant or not, then appointed Cedric to wait on him. Cedric must've stolen the keys that night, and then broke into the tomb, because then he became possessed." Merlin explained. "The tomb belonged to Cornelius Sigan, who was a much feared sorcerer in his time, and he helped build Camelot. He was said to have done everything he could to become immortal, and well, there were enough warnings about him that we shouldn't have entered his tomb and taken his riches. The thing was, Sigan left his soul in a jewel, and the first person to touch it and disturb it would become possessed by the man. So when Cedric tried to take the jewel, Sigan possessed him and gained his freedom to wreak havoc upon Camelot." Merlin gestured to the fog that slowly disappeared to reveal Arthur's room, with Arthur sitting at his desk and Merlin bursting in. "I tried to warn him."

_"Cedric is possessed by an evil spirit." Merlin burst into the room, causing Arthur to look up in surprise and then glare at the boy._

_"What?"_

_"He tried to steal the jewel, but it wasn't a jewel, it was a soul of an ancient sorcerer, Sigan." Merlin explained in a rush._

_Arthur's face showed his disbelief. "Merlin, have you been on the cider?"_

_"Please, listen to me. Camelot is in mortal danger. Sigan is using Cedric's body to take his revenge." Merlin pleaded, leaning over Arthur at the desk._

_"This nonsense isn't helping you keep your job."_

_"You are not listening to me!"Merlin shouted, annoyed with the stubborn prat._

_"You're going to shout anyway? Cedric! Will you escort Merlin from the palace?" Arthur ordered._

_Cedric appeared, and Merlin threw himself at the man, attacking him. Arthur tried to break them off, only succeeding in getting hit in the face. "You've gone too far this time, Merlin! You can spend a few days cooling off in the cells! Guards!" Arthur managed to wrench Merlin away, who continued to struggle to get at the man._

_"He's going to destroy Camelot!" Merlin shouted, as the guards took him away._

"Arthur didn't believe me, obviously, and then I found myself in the dungeons." Merlin explained, as the memory dissolved, and the fog returned.

"How could you treat him like that?" Gwen demanded.

"I'm sorry," Arthur winced, worried he'd pissed off his pregnant wife.

"Gwen, it's fine." Merlin calmed the woman down.

"What happened next Merlin?" Leon asked, trying to draw attention away from Gwen's growing anger at her husband.

"Then Sigan summoned creatures to live to attack Camelot." Merlin said. "I could only hear it all happening, the screams and fighting. I eventually gave up and broke out to find Gaius."

_They were in the Hall, with soldiers and citizens being bandaged by Gaius and Gwen, or sitting in fear and silence._

_"Gaius." Merlin hissed, getting the old man's attention from behind a pillar. Gaius ducked behind it to talk._

_"What are you doing here?"_

_"I have to help Arthur." Merlin replied._

_"Merlin, Sigan's power is far beyond yours." Gaius warned._

_"I don't have a choice."_

_"But Sigan is immortal and you are not. If you face him, he will destroy you."_

_"But there must be a way." Merlin glanced up at the ceiling as a creature flew into it with a loud thud and some of the ceiling's mortar fell down._

_"There is only one alive who is old enough to give us the answers we need."_

_Merlin's face grew pale in denial, "What do you mean?"_

_"The Great Dragon."_

_Merlins stared at Gaius in shock. "You knew that...that I used to visit him."_

_"Yes, Merlin, of course I knew. You're a creature of magic, just as he is. I hoped that he could help you."_

_"He helps no one but himself." Merlin snapped._

_"For Arthur's sake you must go to him now."_

_"I can't."_

_"We have no choice."_

_Merlin sighed, then turned and ran away._

The room dissolved into a cave.

_"Hello?! Hello?! Please, I need your help!" Merlin called out, holding the torch up high._

_"You told me I would not see you again." The dragon flew down and landed on the rock._

"Wait," Leon spoke. The memory paused. "The dragon, you talked to him?"

"He is my friend and kin." Merlin shrugged. "I didn't know it then," Merlin gestured to himself in the memory, "And I was angry at him, because he sent me to the Isle of the Blessed to save Arthur, knowing that Nimueh would use my mother's life, not mine. He knew but did so anyway, because it wasn't my destiny to die, but neither was it Arthur's." Merlin explained.

_"I'm not here for myself, I'm here for Arthur."_

_"Arthur's path lies with yours. You have made it clear that you do not walk in step with me." The dragon hissed._

_"You cannot want Cornelius Sigan to win. You're not evil."_

_"At least Sigan knows where his loyalties lie. You have shown that you do not."_

_"So you will let Camelot fall?"_

_"I did not say that."_

_"Then you will help me?"_

_"To defeat Sigan, you will need a spell more powerful than anything you know."_

_"Please, I have to try." Merlin's voice had taken on a pleading note._

_"Very well. But you must give me something in return."_

_"What?"_

_"A promise."_

_"A promise?"_

_"That one day you will free me."_

_"If I release you, what will you do?"_

_"That is not your concern."_

_"I don't trust you!"_

_"Nevertheless, you must promise, or Camelot will fall."_

_Merlin's shoulders slumped and he sighed as he realised he had no choice. "I promise. Now, please, give me the spell."_

_"Close your eyes and open your mind." The dragon blew hot air over the warlock for a moment, then pulled away. "Few men have ever been gifted such knowledge. Use it wisely."_

_"I will."_

_"You made a promise, young warlock, and one day I shall keep you to it." The dragon flew away, as Merlin turned and ran up the steps again._

The memory dissolved back into the fog.

"It was you," Arthur realised, "You let the dragon go."

**TBC**


	8. Chapter 8

**I am so sorry for the delay, I could explain about how secondary school has got in the way, and how I am in my final year, but that really isn't any excuse. So please, please forgive me, and I hope you enjoy this chapter to make up for the wait.**

**Enjoy**

**Chapter 8**

"Yes, I did. I will not excuse what I did. I had no choice, it was either refuse to swear, and leave Camelot and everyone in it to be killed, or promise, deal with Sigan and then deal with the promise at a later date. I told you several times. I did whatever was necessary to protect you and Camelot." Merlin explained.

Arthur shut his eyes, and visibly calmed himself down.

"How about you continue with your memories?" Leon asked, trying to diffuse the situation.

"I went outside only to find a creature about to kill Arthur." Merlin explained, as the scene appeared.

_"Astrice!" The creature exploded, leaving Arthur unconscious but alive._

_"Who would've believed it? You, a sorcerer, and a powerful one." Sigan in Cedric's body sneered at Merlin who stood his ground._

_"I won't let you hurt him" Merlin defended his Prince._

_"And you're going to stop me?"_

_"I'll stop you."_

_"He does not deserve your loyalty. He treats you like a slave."_

_"That's not true." Merlin shook his head._

_"He cast you aside without a moment's thought."_

_"That doesn't matter." Merlin denied it once more, but his tone lacked conviction._

_"But it must hurt so much to be so put upon, so overlooked, when all the while you have such power."_

_"That's the way it has to be." His tone was now more wistful then defiant._

_"Does it? You're young, Merlin. Look inside yourself. You have yet to discover your true power. I can help you. Think, Merlin. To have the world appreciate your greatness. To have Arthur know you for what you are."_

_"That can never be." The longing in his voice was louder than his words._

_"It can, if you join me. Together we can rule over this land. Arthur will tremble at your voice, he will kneel at your feet."_

_"I don't want that." The wistfulness had left his voice, and only strength and power was left in Merlin's voice._

_"You'd rather be a servant?"_

_"Better to serve a good man that to rule with an evil one."_

_"So be it. If you will not join me, I will become you and your power will be harnessed to my will." A blue mist left Cedric through his eyes and mouth and swirled its way towards Merlin._

_"Ic þín sáwol hér beléac," Merlin chanted, the mist surrounding him and trying to enter his mouth. He forced out the final words, "abide þæt ic þé álíese!" his eyes flashed gold, then black._

"Wait! He possessed you?" Gwaine asked, staring at the frozen, black-eyes servant.

"Tried to. It didn't work, the spell was too powerful." Merlin shrugged.

"You mean you were too powerful." Leon corrected.

"I was lucky, and the dragon had helped me." Merlin responded. "Besides, cleaning Gaius' leech tank was worse."

"When have I made you clean my tank? I've asked, but you never do it." Gaius complained.

"I did that time when Arthur entered a tournament under a false identity." Merlin argued.

"The time you collapsed afterwards and was unconscious for 14 hours?" Gaius asked.

Merlin winced, as Arthur stared in concern at the man, and Gwen gasped. "Why did you collapse?"

"You had to mention that, didn't you Gaius?" Merlin glared at his mentor for a moment before sighing. "Arthur decided to compete in a tournament as someone else, so no one would let him win, and he would see if he was truly the best or not, so he let everyone believe he left on a hunting party for some beast. I stayed behind, and of course, Gaius gave me chores to do, thinking I had plenty of free time." Merlin explained. "Arthur stayed with Gwen, and had me doing all his chores still, so the horses, the armour, the weapons, all that, while Gaius had me doing the scrubbing and laundry and washing and everything, and on top of that, there was an assassin trying to kill Arthur. I exhausted myself, and, ah, slept for 14 hours straight."

"He fainted, and remained unconscious for 14 hours." Gaius corrected, "because the stupid boy forgot to eat."

"I skipped a couple of meals. I remembered to eat, I just didn't have time." Merlin defended himself.

"Having two meals in a week is not skipping only a couple of meals, Merlin." Gaius lectured.

"No wonder you're so skinny." Gwaine commented, joking around while staring at the warlock is concern and surprise.

"I don't eat as much as everyone else." Merlin shrugged. "I don't get time, and I don't get hungry. I never have."

"You were always hungry as a child, Hunith wrote to me several times asking for money to be able to buy enough food to satisfy you." Gaius pointed out.

"When I was too young to understand." Merlin rolled his eyes, "I cut back on what I ate when I realised we couldn't afford it, and I got used to be hungry, and now, I just don't get hungry."

Arthur stood up, opened the door and spoke to a guard outside. He came back and sat down. "It's lunchtime anyway, so I asked for some food to be brought up." He explained.

Merlin sighed, "You're all going to try and fatten me up now, aren't you?"

"Yep." all the knights spoke as one.

"Great." Merlin muttered.

"How about you tell us what happened next?" Gwen asked, wanting to hear more.

Merlin's shoulders slumped slightly, and he nodded to himself, "Next major thing that happened was Morgana. The lightning striking the window, and the curtains catching on fire, they were both her. She couldn't control the magic yet, it was just appearing and she was terrified. Her dreams were bad as it was, but then she had to cope with the sudden appearance of her magic, and the confliction and fear she felt. If there's one thing I regret the most, that is not talking to her, and telling her about myself. I considered it, but both Gaius and Kilgharrah said not to trust her, and I listened to them, for once."

"And it turned out for the best. Imagine if Morgana had known about your magic while pretending to be good. She would've used that against you." Gaius spoke.

"Maybe she wouldn't have turned evil, if I had shown her that magic could be good, before Morgause showed her that magic had to be used to destroy the Pendragon line." Merlin shrugged.

"What's done is done." Gwen spoke firmly. "Maybe things would've been better, maybe they would've been worse. What ifs are as good as a candle in a river."

Merlin smiled fondly at the Queen, who smiled back, and he continued with his story. "I helped her find the druids. I thought that they could help her control her powers, and teach her the good side to magic. And maybe they would've, but then Uther sent soldiers after her, and attacked the camp, which I should've thought through and seen happening. That was the only time I've used magic against you Arthur, and your knights. I tried to slow you down to let as many of the druids to escape as possible, with Morgana. It didn't work, Morgana collapsed from her injury and was brought back to Camelot. She was still good though, she had hoped that one day people would see magic as a force of good, and that she was thankful for me helping her." Merlin explained. "And I believed that Morgana was good for a while after that. Gwen was kidnapped, and we went after her. I didn't do much to help rescue her, just I slowed some of the enemies down, knocked a few out, shut the gate behind us, little things like that." Merlin shrugged.

A servant brought a platter of food in, and placed it in the middle of the table. Another servant placed plates in front of everyone, and cutlery then a third began pouring cups of water for everyone. All members were silent as this happened, Merlin too busy piling up the food on his plate and eating to talk, the others were processing all Merlin had told them.

When the servants left, Arthur was the first to break that silence, asking, "Did your magic tell you about Lady Catrina being a troll?"

"No, although, maybe subconsciously, but I ignored it. Gaius was suspicious to begin with. Lady Catrina had a illness that was incurable. She suffered pain from her joints, especially after walking a long way. Uther dismissed it, but Gaius was still worried, so I went into her rooms to look around. While I was there, her servant turned up, and I managed to convince him I was changing the sheets. As I was leaving, I saw the man had a tail."

Merlin gestured to the fog, as it cleared to reveal Gaius' rooms.

_"What did you find?" Gaius asked as Merlin entered the room._

_"Something wasn't right in there. There was this strange smell, and I could've sworn the Lady Catrina's bed hadn't been slept in. And there was something else." Merlin explained, pausing as if doubting himself._

_"Oh?"_

_"Jonas. As I was leaving, I thought I saw something...this is gonna sound mad, but it looked like Jonas had a tail."_

_"A tail? You sure?" Gaius asked, frowning._

_"Well, I mean, I only glimpsed it for a moment. I-I mean, I could be wrong..." Merlin trailed off._

_"No, no, I believe you. Merlin, we must keep an eye on her. A very close eye."_

"Gaius tried to warn Uther to be wary of Catrina, but he didn't believe him. I tried to spy on Catrina, but, well, it didn't go too well." Merlin explained as the fog shimmered and then changed into Arthur's room.

_Merlin crept across the room as Arthur slept in his bed. Merlin held a mirror out of the open mirror and whispered, "Scéawere, folge min bebod." The mirror lowered itself and Merlin leaned out to watch it. The reflection of a troll appeared in the glass, just as Merlin blinked, surprised._

_"Merlin.'_

_Merlin spun to stare at Arthur as the mirror crashed to the ground._

_"I have no doubt, Merlin, that you have prepared a very good explanation for this." Arthur crossed his arms and glared at his manservant._

_"Yes. No. Er..." Merlin stuttered._

_"Apparently I'm wrong." Arthur sighed, shoving Merlin away to glance down the window._

_He saw the mirror and pulled back to stare at the manservant, "Please tell me you weren't spying on Lady Catrina."_

_"It's not what it seems." Merlin insisted._

_"Yes, Merlin. It's exactly what it seems. You have led a sheltered life, you have no social skills whatsoever, and Catrina is, I admit, an attractive woman. I understand completely. And if I ever find you doing it again, I'll feed you to the dogs. Do I make myself clear?"_

_Arthur pushed Merlin to the door._

_"Yes, absolutely, Sire." Merlin nodded, before sprinting away._

"You were spying on her!" Arthur pointed out, as everyone turned to glare at him for treating Merlin rudely.

"I know, Arthur, it's fine." Merlin grinned. "Keep watching."

_Merlin followed the troll from Catrina's room to the tunnels under the castle. He sprinted back to Gaius' room to tell the man._

_"What you saw is seldom seen, Merlin. Trolls despise all other living things, especially humans. They prefer to lurk in the darkness of their nests, feasting on rotten filth." Gaius was explaining._

_"And Jonas? Is he a troll too?" Merlin asked, sitting on the bench as Gaius shuffled about the room, cleaning up and talking as he worked._

_"Who can tell what manner of creature he is." Gaius shrugged._

_"It makes no sense. If trolls like to lurk in their caves so much , what's this one doing in Camelot?"_

_"Trolls are greedy. Lady Catrina's like the rest of her kind; she lusts after wealth and power."_

_"Uther's wealth and power."_

_Gaius sighed and reluctantly decided, "We've reached the point of no return. Uther has to be told."_

_"You're going to tell Uther that his lady friend's a troll?"_

_"That's exactly what I'm going to do."_

_"Good luck." Merlin shuddered at the idea._

_"Thank you, Merlin."_

"Obviously, Uther didn't believe me." Gaius said.

"And then Catrina enchanted him to be in love with her, not that we knew that yet." Merlin continued.

"So then what? You miraculously saved the day?" Gwaine asked.

"Not yet, and Arthur did a lot of the work this time." Merlin shrugged.

"Seriously? The princess actually did something for once?" Gwaine gasped in mock-surprise.

Arthur glared at him as he laughed and laughed.

**TBC**


	9. Chapter 9

**I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)**

**Chapter 9**

Merlin didn't bother trying to calm Gwaine down, or soothe Arthur's pretend temper, just shrugged and continued 'playing' the memory.

_"It's no good, Merlin. I can tell him she's a troll until I'm blue in the face, he simply won't listen. He sees a charming, beautiful woman." Gaius sighed, entering his room again while Merlin was sitting on the bench, flipping through a book on the table._

_"Yeah, with a body like a tree trunk." Merlin muttered._

_"But we only know that because you saw her in the troll form."_

_"So, what do we do?" Merlin asked, shutting the book._

_"We must open Uther's eyes, show her for what she really is."_

_"Using magic?" MErlin asked, looking slightly hopeful, slightly panicked._

_"It's the only way to reveal her true form." Gaius nodded._

_"But she never leaves his side." Merlin pointed out._

_"I know."_

_"You want me to use magic in front of the King?" Merlin sat up straight and stared at his mentor in shock, with fear evident in his eyes._

_"Yes, Merlin, I do."_

_"I-I'd never get away with it." Merlin stuttered._

_"I'm sorry, Merlin. I know how dangerous this is, but we cannot allow it to gain any further control over the King. Who knows what the consequences might be?"_

_Merlin seemed to sigh in defeat and slumped over. "Just one problem. I know nothing about troll magic."_

_"Then we have work to do." Gaius said, handing Merlin a pile of books."_

_Merlin sighed but began reading through the books dutifully._

_Gaius had fallen asleep, but Merlin was still reading._

_"Here it is!" Merlin exclaimed. He looked up to see Gaius asleep, and dropped a book on the floor._

_Gaius jerked awake and looked around, confused._

_"I found it. The spell of revelation. By which the true nature of the thing may be revealed." Merlin explained._

_"But this applies only to objects, things, not to living creatures." Gaius said, pointing to a bit of text._

_"I know. The principle's the same, isn't it? I have to try it. What other choice do we have?"_

_"Very well. But Merlin, choose your moment carefully. Trolls are vicious creatures."_

_A knock interrupted Gaius, as Merlin memorised the spell, reading it over and over to commit it to memory._

_"Come in." Gaius called._

_A guard entered and spoke, "The King requests your presence in the council chambers."_

_"Very well." Gaius and Merlin shared a look, then left together._

_They entered the council chambers, just before Uther entered with Lady Catrina._

_"Thank you all for coming. You are, no doubt, wondering why I have gathered you here today. Though we live in dark times, today I bring you light, and love. It gives me greatest pleasure to inform you that the Houses of Tregor and Pendragon are to be united in the closest bond of all. I am to marry Lady Catrina of Tregor. I am to marry Lady Catrina tomorrow." Uther explained. He continued taking, "This union heralds a new dawn for the kingdom, a new beginning..."_

_Merlin began whispering under his breath while Uther continued with his speech._

_"Hierste þæt íecen sóna." It didn't work, so Merlin tried again. "Hierste þæt íecen sóna."_

_This time, Catrina flinched a little, but nothing happened. "Hierste þæt íecen sóna." Merlin whispered one last time. Catrina grimaced, but smiled when Uther turned to her, just as everyone started applauding. Merlin joined in, forcing a smile along with Gaius._

The scene changed and suddenly they were in a corridor. The memory was paused though.

"The spell didn't work, and I tried to tell Arthur, but he didn't believe me. He just thought I was insulting the woman, not actually meaning an actual troll." Merlin explained. "This is after that conversation."

_Fake weeping could be heard as Merlin walked down the corridor. "Hello?"_

_Around the corner was Jonas, weeping into his hands in a crouch. He jumped upright,_

_"Master Merlin. I'm sorry."_

_"What's wrong with you?" Merlin asked, a little suspicious._

_"I'm a slave. A prisoner." Jonas whispered._

_"What are you talking about?" Merlin lowered his voice._

_"My mistress, she's not as she seems. But you know as much." Jonas told the boy._

_Merlin nodded, "Go on, I'm listening."_

_"She is a cruel, wicked creature. She keeps me in chains. She hurts me. Her magic, I-I can't escape it. She twists my mind as she is twisting the mind of your King." Jonas explained, showing his bruised and bloody wrists from the chains._

_"Why are you telling me this?" Merlin asked, glancing around for anyone approaching._

_"I can help you." Jonas said, looking eager and hopeful._

_"How?"_

_"Below the castle, where she sleeps, she keeps her potions there. Every night she must take these potions, it is the magic that transforms her from beast to beauty. If you were to take these from her, she must remain as a beast, and then your King would not be so keen, I think." Jonas explained._

_"Tell me, Jonas, why should I believe any of this?"_

_"You must do as you think fit, Master Merlin, but if my mistress is not stopped, by morning she will be queen." Jonas concluded, before shuffling away, looking very much like a enslaved servant._

"I went to check it out, and it was a trap, and the troll trapped me in her nest." Merlin explained. "By the time I got out, it was morning, and the wedding was happening. Jonas got in my way as I was trying to get there, so I knocked him out. I entered the chambers, just as Uther and Catrina were married." Merlin sighed. "She of course, began trying to get rid of me. She told Uther I stole her royal seal, and forced Arthur to send knights out looking for me." Merlin explained.

"I came to warn you though." Arthur pointed out, before anyone could get upset with him for being mean.

"I don't believe that." Gwaine muttered loudly.

Merlin laughed, and gestured to the fog.

_Merlin was in Arthur's room, cleaning up. Surprisingly. Arthur walks in, already ordering him about, "You need to get out of here. The King's ordered me to arrest you."_

_"What?" Merlin paused in his cleaning to stare at the Prince, confused._

_"Catrina's accused you of taking her seal." Arthur explained, taking the cloth out of Merlin's hands and pushing him towards the door._

_"But I didn't."_

_"I don't want to know, and you haven't got time to explain. If you value your life, you'll leave Camelot right now." Arthur opened the servant's door and tried to shove the reluctant manservant out._

_"Arthur, she is a troll, and she's trying to set me up."_

_"We've been through this." Arthur rolled his eyes, annoyed his manservant couldn't sense the urgency._

_"I'm telling the truth. I saw her." Merlin protested._

_"I don't care. You need to leave, Merlin." Arthur shoved Merlin out, just as a guard knocked on the main door._

_"Sire?"_

_"Go." Arthur insisted, when Merlin hesitated, Arthur slammed the door, hissing, "Go!" one final time. Merlin ran away and through the servant's passages in the walls that the nobles didn't bother learning about. He burst into Gaius' room, and the old man was already there, ready to help him hide._

The scene changed, still in Gaius' rooms, but the room appearing empty, for a moment,.

_Gaius walked in, shut the door and knocked on the lid of a barrel of grain. Gaius moved it, as Merlin stood up, pushing a layer of grain and a cloth off of his head._

_"That was comfortable." Merlin commented, climbing out rather gracefully for the normally clumsy manservant._

_"A necessary evil, I'm afraid. They picked up the trail that we left, but it won't fool them for long." Gaius explained._

_"Then I'd better get busy." Merlin moved to the door._

_"And Merlin, be careful. The guards are still searching for you." Gaius warned the boy, who grinned and left._

_Merlin peered through a grate in the wall, watching into the room as Catrina itched her skin in her room, as Jonas scurried around._

_"Mistress, it is time." Jonas announced, pulling out a vial or something vile looking._

_"Do I have to?" Catrina grunted._

_"You must keep up the pretence!" Jonas insisted, forcing the open vial into her hand. She shuddered, then gulped it down. Her troll skin disappeared and returned to being a human._

_"I hate being like this! So clean! It's revolting. I can't keep it up. This skin, this face! I just want to claw it off!"_

_"Think of all the money, and the power. Soon it will all be yours." Jonas calmed her._

"After that, Uther increased the taxes because she said so, and Uther was beginning to turn on everyone, even Arthur." Merlin told the knights who hadn't been there. "I snuck into her room and took the potion she had drunk, and brought it back to Gaius."

_Gaius took the vial Merlin was offering and held it up against the light._

_"I saw her drink some of this potion and a patch of troll skin on her arm disappeared." Merlin explained._

_"It must be pretty powerful magic to physically change her like that." Gaius muttered._

_"Could you make a potion that looks and tastes the same as this?" Merlin asked._

_"I don't know. Yes, I suppose so, but without the troll magic, it wouldn't have the same effect." Gaius warned the boy._

_Merlin nodded eagerly. "Exactly. If I can replace this potion with one that isn't magical."_

_"Ah, so Catrina will keep taking it, but it'll no longer work."_

_"And she'll turn into a troll. Think you can do it?"_

_"I don't know."_

_Merlin sighed and said, "We have to make the switch before morning or Jonas will notice."_

_"Then it's going to be a long night." Gaius announced, slipping on his glasses._

_"What's in it?" Merlin asked, as Gaius held up the replicated potion._

_"Nothing too potent. Rat's guts." Gaius said._

_"Nice." Merlin pulled a face, but nodded along._

_"Toad paste." Gaius continued. At Merlin's confused face, he started to explain, "Take two toads, grind them up..."_

_"No, I get the picture." Merlin cut him off._

_"Horse dung. Crushed sheep's eyeball."_

_"Oh, lovely."_

_"Pond scum. Three wolf spiders. And what potion isn't complete without a dash of sheep's brain?"_

_"Sounds delicious." Merlin looked disgusted._

_"Good, 'cause you're going to taste it." Gaius held out the vial._

_"No way." Merlin pushed his hand away._

_"It's completely harmless." Gaius insisted._

_"Er, no." He shook his head, before staring at Gaius in shock and hurt, as if he couldn't believe the man was making him do this. He took the vial and sniffed the bottle, gagging at the smell. He dipped his finger in, so a drop was on his finger, and held it to his mouth, clearly trying to convince himself to do it. He stuck his tongue out, then pulled away, then sighed and licked his finger. "That is...ugh. That is disgusting." Merlin wiped his tongue on his scarf, gagging as he tried to get the taste out of his mouth._

_"Yes, to you, but not to a troll."_

_"I can't even believe you let me put that in my mouth." Merlin mumbled, still sticking his tongue out of his mouth to avoid tasting it again._

_"Yes, well, try the original." Gaius held out the bottle._

_"Oh..." Merlin shook his head and stared dejectedly at Gaius, who stared back until Merlin took the vial._

_"Just a small amount. And be sure to spit it out."_

_Merlin dipped his finger in, shut his and seemed to resign himself to his fate. he licked the finger, and gagged again, spitting it out and wiping his tongue on his scarf again and again._

_"Does it taste roughly the same?" Gaius asked._

_"Yes! It's horrible." Merlin gasped._

_"Are you sure? Because if there's too big a difference, Catrina will notice."_

_"It tastes exactly the same."_

_"Well, let's hope she thinks so, too."_

"I returned the potion, stayed until she came back and drank it, then returned to Gaius, only to find out that during that time, Arthur had been disinherited, and Catrina was replaced as the heir." Merlin explained. "During the crowning ceremony, the potion stopped working and she transformed back into a troll in front of everyone."

"I always wondered why she suddenly changed, but I suppose it makes sense now." Arthur murmured. "And by that point, father was under her spell, so when we said anything about her being a troll, he defended her and threatened whoever was insulting her with death."

"Exactly." Merlin grinned at his King. "I spoke with the dragon, who found Uther's new wife hilarious, but told me that to break the spell on Uther, he had to cry tears of true remorse. So, I, um, that is, Gaius and I, came up with the plan to, um, kill Arthur." Merlin uttered, a little embarrassed.

"Yeah, that was fun." Arthur commented dryly.

"Wait, you killed the princess?" Gwaine asked, confused.

"Here, I'll show you." Merlin sighed, gesturing to the memory. They were in Arthur's rooms, with Arthur dressed and standing in front of Gaius and Merlin.

_"So your great plan is to kill me?" Arthur asked._

_"No. Well, yes. It...not exactly. It's...Gaius has made a potion that gives the appearance of death without the actual dying bit. It's fine. There's nothing to worry about. It'll only bring you to the brink of death." Merlin explained._

_"Oh, only to the brink." Arthur muttered sarcastically._

_"We haven't got a choice."_

_"We have to make your father cry." Gaius explained._

_"He doesn't care about me anymore." Arthur told them, his voice guarded and emotionless._

_"Nonsense. That's Catrina's influence. I've known your father for many, many years. There's never been anyone or anything he's treasured more than you." Gaius reassured the prince. He continued explaining, "It's perfectly safe. A single drop of the antidote will reverse the effects immediately."_

_"Antidote. What antidote? You didn't say anything about the antidote!" Arthur turned to Merlin._

_"Er...I didn't think it was important." Merlin guessed from his spot in the corner, he was looking around for something._

_"The potion will lower your heart rate and breathing. For all intents and purposes, you will be dead." Gaius explained._

_"And the antidote reverses the effects?"_

_"Yes. If it's administered in time."_

_"If it isn't?"_

_"You will be dead."_

_"You just said it wasn't important!" Arthur exclaimed at Merlin._

_"Erm...yeah, I suppose it is a bit important." Merlin shrugged, finding Arthur's sword and picking it up. He placed it on the table near the Prince._

_"Merlin will have the antidote. Once I have administered the poison...er, the potion, he'll have half an hour to get it to you." Gaius ignored Merlin._

_"Don't be late." Arthur ordered, taking the vial from Gaius._

_"Am I ever?" Merlin asked jokingly. Arthur gave him a look, as did Gaius, both telling him silently to shut up._

_"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Gaius double-checked._

_"It's the only way to save Camelot." Arthur sighed, before rolling his eyes and drinking the potion/. He waited a moment, then shrugged, as nothing happened. He then fell backwards, unconscious."_

_"Time to break the bad news to Uther." Gaius told Merlin._

"So you actually, practically, killed the princess." Gwaine said. Merlin nodded.

"Yep, and nearly didn't make it on time. To be fair, Jonas delayed me, he knocked me out and the vial broke. I woke up and used my scarf to soak up what I could and sprinted into Arthur's room, squeezed out the last of the antidote as Uther came to his senses and tried to help his guards capture the troll. Arthur woke up and managed to kill Jonas, and then I tripped the troll over, allowing Arthur the chance to stab her." Merlin explained.

"So I didn't even stop the troll on my own like I thought. Has anything I've achieved been my own deeds?" Arthur demanded.

"Yes. You brought Camelot back from road to civil war and have made alliances with several kingdoms. You've rescued servants and friends from the enemy without second thought, reclaimed Camelot back from two immortal armies and -" Merlin began.

"All with your help, and your magic." Arthur interrupted.

"And with your knights and their swords." Merlin added. "I helped the only way I could, just like Gwaine helps the only way he can. It is just different methods. You still did all those things Arthur. Just, some of the things you put down to luck and chance was me, that's all."

""Perhaps we should stop for the day, to give you all the chance to digest what has been told?" Gaius suggested.

"Excellent idea Gaius," Merlin agreed, standing up. "I'm sure you've all heard enough of my voice today anyway, so I'll just be going. Chores to do and all that."

"Merlin." Arthur called out, stopping the man on his way to the door. "Whatever you're avoiding telling us, you have to tell us tomorrow, remember that."

"I know Arthur, I'm not avoiding telling you everything. I'm avoiding telling you everything in one go. We've barely began with everything I've done, just so you're aware." Merlin said over his shoulder.

"I know. Take the rest of the day off, I'll have someone else do your chores." Arthur offered.

"Thank you for your offer Arthur, but I actually want something to do with myself, so if it's all the same to you, I'll do the chores anyway." Merlin declined the offer and left.

The knights, the king, the queen and physician watched the warlock walk away.

**TBC**

**The next chapter should be up at the end of the next week, unfortunately. I have a production on at school, that requires me to attend rehearsals every night this week and all weekend. It'll be over on Monday, and then I will be able to work on the next chapter and post it when it is finished.**

**Please read and review :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you soo much to everyone who reviewed! I'm so glad people are enjoying this :) It motivates me to keep writing.**

**Hope you all enjoy this one as much :)**

**Chapter 10**

Arthur couldn't get the image of Merlin all but bolting out of the council room and decided to go find him. He walked into the armoury, expecting him to be polishing armour, only to find Gwen there restitching a tunic, Percival sharpening his sword, Leon inspecting his chain mail, Elyan polishing his own armour and Merlin polishing the King's armour. Gwaine wasn't even trying to appear to have a reason to be there, sitting in a chair with his feet up on the table and grinning as he told Merlin a story about one of his drunken escapades.

"Sire, I was wondering when you would turn up." Merlin commented dryly.

"Well, I needed to check up on how my armour was going." Arthur cast for an excuse to be there.

"Arthur, really?" Gwen sighed, "Admit it, you're here for the same reasons we all are."

"To prove to the idiot that we're still his friends?" Arthur asked, hoping he was right.

Merlin grinned up at him from his spot on the floor, as Gwen openly smiled at her husband. "Thank you, sire." Merlin muttered.

"Can you not go all respectful please?" Arthur groaned, sitting down next to Gwaine, picking up a piece of armour not yet cleaned and getting to work.

"If you wish so, prat." Merlin corrected, pulling a face at his King.

"So mature." Arthur sighed, pulling a face back.

"Takes one to know one." Merlin commented cheerfully.

"That doesn't even make sense." Arthur frowned.

"Yeah it does."

"No it doesn't."

"Yeah it does."

"No it doesn't."

"Yeah it does."

"No it doesn't."

"Can you please stop." Gwen interrupted.

"Sorry." They said together.

There was silence for a while, then Merlin spoke up, "I suppose, you all have questions about what I have said today."

"Not really." Gwaine shrugged. The other knights looked to agree with him.

"I do," Arthur spoke up.

Merlin didn't visibly react, but his shoulders grew slightly tense, as if preparing himself for a blow, verbally or physically. "And?"

"How did you manage all these years without wanting some sort of recognition? Appreciation? I understand why you didn't tell me, but all those times you accredited it to me, you could've easily come up with a cover story that put you as the hero." Arthur asked. "Why didn't you?"

"It wasn't about being recognised or appreciated or rewarded. It still isn't. What I did was to protect you and Camelot, I didn't need people to give me rewards for something that wasn't heroic."

"Wasn't heroic? Are you actually serious when you say that?" Gwaine asked.

"I was lying to you all. I was using something you all considered evil. I was running about behind your backs, always twisting the truth and spying on people. I broke rules effortlessly without a minute's thought simply because I thought I could protect Arthur and Camelot easier if I didn't follow that rule or this law. I'm no hero Gwaine." Merlin corrected.

"If you're not a hero then no one is." Percival pointed out.

Merlin shook his head. "You guys are. All the people look to you for protection and guidance and you take that all in your stride and do what you can to face their expectations of them. Heros are people who make mistakes and are human yet do their best to do what is right and what they believe in. Not people who lie with every breath they take and hide everything from those that consider themselves friends."

"Are we not your friends?" Gwaine demanded.

"You're my friends. And you all considered me as your friend, but that was when I was lying to you all and you didn't know. I'm not so naive that I don't realise that friendship is broken at least for the time being, until you can all trust me again." Merlin shrugged.

"We trust you to tell us the truth Merlin, yes you have lied in the past, but I trust you will share what you can, when you can, and all you can." Gwen spoke up. "Now, I do believe we were taking a break tonight, from talking, so perhaps we should all have dinner, informal of course, but in the hall?"

"Food?" Gwaine asked, looking hopeful.

"Free food." Gwen corrected, smiling widely at the knights who began to put their things away. Arthur took the things out of Merlin's hands and ignored his protests.

"It's not finished!" Merlin argued.

"So blink and have it finished!" Arthur argued back. "It's dinner time."

Merlin stared back, then grinned. His eyes flashed golden and all the armour was suddenly polished and reflecting the light.

"Show-off." Arthur muttered under his breath.

Merlin just laughed.

* * *

They sat in the same spots the next morning as the day before and waited patiently for the warlock to turn up.

And waited.

And waited.

Merlin burst into the room, puffing and gasping for breath. "Sorry, sorry."

"And you were late this time because?" Arthur asked.

"I was casting spells on the castle walls for protection, just some basic ones against fire and general magic attacks. It took longer than I expected to finish up." Merlin explained.

The knights all took a moment to digest that and Merlin grinned at them all. "Now that I can legally do it, I'll do them properly and protect the castle against yet another attack from Morgana."

"Don't overdo yourself my boy." Gaius warned.

"I know." Merlin rolled his eyes. "There's this spell in my book that is meant to enclose the castle in a dome sort of thing that deactivates any disguising enchantments and animation spells, I was thinking of using that, but including wraths and teleportation. So they can't just appear in Camelot without warning."

"Umm…" Arthur blinked.

"With your permission, of course," Merlin added quickly, "Well, kind of. I'd do it anyway because you'd be an idiot not to want me to protect the castle, especially with a family on the way, as Morgana and any other enemy would see Gwen and the children as a way to get to you, Arthur."

"Will this dome thingy affect anyone inside it, or prevent anyone from entering or leaving?" Arthur asked, a little confused.

"No, just spells." Merlin replied quickly.

"Do whatever you think is necessary. Only clear it by me if it directly affects anyone physically, or in any possible negative way." Arthur decided.

"Good." Merlin nodded.

"Merlin, there's no need to be nervous," Gwen spoke up, noticing the man's fidgeting and agitation, "Just continue talking from where we left off yesterday."

"That obvious?" Merlin chuckled self-consciously, immediately stopping himself from fidgeting.

"A little bit." Gwen grinned at her friend, who took a breath and relaxed slightly.

"Right, well, I suppose the next major thing to happen was Uther hiring the Witch Finder, Aredian." Merlin settled into his chair.

"The smoke images, were they you?" Arthur asked.

Merlin nodded. His eyes flashed and everyone slumped over in their chairs as their eyes slipped shut and they were in his memories.

_Merlin stood with a pile of wood in his hands, walking around along with the other people out collecting firewood. He gradually drifted away from them, and sat down on the hill, looking out over Camelot._

_His face was solemn and serious as he looked out over the town, the noises of life drifting up. There was a column of smoke rising, and he titled his head to the side._

"_Hors, beride þá heofonum."_

_The smoke moved and became the shape of a horse. It reared upwards then galloped along in the smoke, tossing it's head silently._

_The shape faded back into normal smoke._

_Merlin sighed and shut his eyes, then jerked upright as a woman came running up the hill from the trees, "Did you see it? The smoke, did you see it?"_

_Merlin's eyes were wide with panic, "No, I saw nothing."_

"_Are you blind? You were right here! It was magic, I tell you. There's sorcery here. We must tell the King." She insisted. She ran off down the hill to Camelot._

_Merlin's face was almost comically stunned, until he ran after her, "No! Wait!"_

"After that, Uther went ballistic, called in the Witchfinder." Merlin explained.

"Surely you should've known better than that?" Gwaine asked, surprised the man had been so careless.

"With the amount of times I have berated him about it, one would think so." Gaius mumbled.

Merlin grinned sheepishly. "If it makes you feel better Gwaine, Gaius yelled at me."

"_How many times, Merlin?! How many times must I drive it into that thick skull of yours that your magic is a secret to be guarded with your life?! What were you thinking?!" Gaius ranted as they entered the physician's room._

"_I...I wasn't thinking." Merlin stuttered, surprised the man was yelling._

"_Well think, boy, think!"_

"_It was just a bit of fun." Merlin tried to argue back._

"_It was magic and it was seen."_

_Merlin's shoulders slumped slightly and he nodded, "You're right. I'm sorry."_

_Gaius sighed. "You must hide the book. Anything that can connect you to sorcery in any way."_

"_What? Now?" Merlin asked, looking around the room as if to see where the threat was._

"_Yes, now, Merlin. The man that Uther has sent for, I know him."_

"_The Witchfinder?"_

"_Hmm, some know him by that name. I know him as Aredian. He is a force to be reckoned with."_

"_But I'm not a witch. Look. No dress or anything." Merlin did a small twirl, gesturing to the lack of dress. He stopped at Gaius' serious face, void of any amusement. "I'll get the book." Merlin said, heading into his room._

"I must say, I wasn't that worried, despite Gaius obviously being worried, not until I met him." Merlin explained.

"What happened?" Gwen asked.

"I suppose, since I was hiding my magic, when he was questioning me I was worried he would find out, but when he found Gaius and I in the markets before I was interrogated, he made my skin crawl and my magic didn't like him." Merlin explained.

"You're magic didn't like him?" Arthur repeated.

"Oh shut up." Merlin responded. "Yes my magic reacts to plenty of things. It's how I often could tell Morgause or Morgana were planning something, or had someone in disguise in the castle, my magic reacted and I knew something was wrong."

"What happened when you met him and Aredian questioned you?" Gwen asked, getting the men back on topic.

_Merlin and Gaius were walking through the markets, Merlin carrying all the jars and purchases._

"_Gaius, isn't it? I never forget a face." Aredian spoke, approaching them._

"_Nor I, Aredian." Gaius nodded in polite greeting, but everyone observing could see the tension in the memory._

"_A physician now, I hear. You always did have a thirst for knowledge." Aredian continued conversing._

"_Scientific knowledge." Gaius nodded in agreement._

"_Of course." Aredian muttered, looking at Merlin, his eyes raking over the boy._

"_My assistant, Merlin." Gaius almost reluctantly introduced._

"_Merlin." Aredian repeated. Merlin nodded and waved slightly._

"_May your investigation prove fruitful, Aredian. However, you'll have to excuse us, we have work to do." Gaius bowed his head in parting and left, dragging Merlin with him._

_Aredian called out after them. "Naturally. Merlin? I have a few questions I would like you to answer. Please be at my chambers in an hour."_

"He gives me the creeps." Gwaine muttered, as the scene swirled into a different memory.

_Merlin was sitting at the man's desk, while he stood behind him, pacing the room intimidatingly. "You are aware, then, that sorcery has been practiced in the vicinity of Camelot?"_

"_Yes. I mean...apparently." Merlin all but squeaked. He coughed to clear his throat, and listened as Aredian continued._

"_No, no, it cannot be denied. There was a witness." Aredian corrected._

"_Yes, I know." Merlin nodded._

"_Do you also know that the woman has named you as a witness?" Aredian asked, coming round to sit down at his desk._

"_But..." Merlin tried to protest._

"_I've already spoken to her. She was quite clear on the matter." Aredian cut him off._

"_But I wasn't a witness." Merlin insisted._

"_Oh, sorry. Perhaps I misheard. Do you deny that you were present at the time of the incident?" Aredian asked, leaning forward over the desk to stare at him intensely._

_Merlin clearly was struggling not to fidget or look away and answered nervously, "No, I, I was there."_

"_Well, so you saw it, the horse conjured from the smoke?" Aredian asked._

"_I saw the smoke, but...it was only smoke. I saw nothing else." Merlin eventually managed to answer._

"_Are you saying that she lies?" Aredian asked, leaning back, frowning slightly._

"_I didn't say that. I said I didn't see what she saw." Merlin repeated._

"_Hmm. Well, how can that be, I wonder? How can one person see something and the other not?" Aredian asked._

"_I can't explain it." Merlin half shrugged._

"_I'm at a loss as to explain it myself. Unless it was you who performed the magic." Aredian suggested._

"_It wasn't." Merlin insisted quickly, almost too quickly._

"_Can you prove that it wasn't?" Aredian asked._

"_No." Merlin breathed out. His face held traces of his nerves and his fear._

"_Hmm. That'll be all." Aredian gestured to the door. Merlin got up to leave and had a hand on the handle before he spoke again, "For now."_

"Was he really that intimidating?" Arthur asked. "He'd make anyone look guilty, just by intimidating them so much."

"Yeah well, you know what the final verdict was." Merlin shrugged.

"What?" Gwaine asked eagerly.

"He had three women give reports of magic, and then he named me as the sorcerer. Uther ordered a search of Gaius' rooms, and I told them I had nothing to hide, certain no one would find my book. They looked me in the cells, and went to look. Half an hour later, Arthur let me out, but Gaius was arrested instead. When they had searched the rooms, they found an amulet and Uther was going to sentence me to death, but Gaius spoke up and took the blame, claiming it was his." Merlin explained.

"Uther was adamant it wasn't Gaius and I agreed." Arthur spoke up. "Uther let Aredian question Uther to determine the truth."

"Aredian took the opportunity to try and get me to confess to other magic users, and to simply torture me for his personal enjoyment." Gaius explained. "I refused to give up Merlin, and I refused to say anything other than that I had kept the amulet from my past, and it was a mistake to do so." Gaius' face darkened slightly in memory. "Then he said that I was going to be burned, along with Merlin and Morgana, so I made a deal with him to protect them. I confessed to Uther."

"When they arrested Gaius, I tried to attack Aredian, so Arthur took me to the dungeons, but not to arrest me and I was able to speak with Gaius." Merlin continued.

_Merlin was standing opposite Arthur in the dungeons. "I'm breaking the law." Arthur pulled out his keys and opened Gaius' cell. "I can only give you a few minutes._

_Merlin rushed in, and Arthur moved back to give them some privacy._

"_They wouldn't let me see you, there was nothing I could do." Merlin told Gaius frantically._

"_I know. I understand." Gaius hugged the boy._

"_I can't believe it. I can't believe Uther would do this to you." Merlin said, eyes wide with fear and disbelief._

"_He had no choice. Once Aredian had found the amulet." Gaius trailed off._

"_I didn't even know you had such a thing." Merlin frowned at the man._

"_It isn't mine." Gaius said, staring at the boy in shock._

"_Why did you say it was?" Merlin asked, his face slowly twisting to display his shock._

"_I was trying to protect you." Gaius explained._

"_I don't know what to say." Merlin muttered._

"_It's alright, Merlin. You don't have to say anything." Gaius tried to comfort the boy._

"_Yeah, I do. The amulet isn't mine either." Merlin told Gaius desperately._

"_Then how did it get there?" Gaius asked the question that was on everyone's minds._

"_Aredian." Merlin answered, his face hardening to show his anger._

"_Aredian?" Gaius frowned._

"_There's no other explanation." Merlin nodded and began pacing, trying to think of a plan._

"_But why?"_

_Merlin shook his head, and smiled at Gaius hopefully, "It doesn't matter why. All that matters is, if I can prove he planted it, you're saved."_

"_No. You must let this go." Gaius begged._

"_No, you're falsely accused. I have a chance to prove that. I must take that chance." Merlin decided._

"_No, Merlin. You must not." Gaius insisted._

"_I don't understand. Do you want to die?" Merlin asked, his face dropping into a frown again._

"_No. But neither do I want you to die. And die you surely will if you get too close to Aredian. He will trap you, Merlin. He will manipulate you, and without ever meaning to, you will incriminate yourself. You must let this go." Gaius begged._

"_I must let you go?" Merlin asked again._

"_To do otherwise would be an act of suicide." Gaius replied._

_Merlin hugged the man once more, then left quietly, letting Arthur lock the cell._

"Surprise surprise, I didn't let it go." Merlin chuckled a little awkwardly.

"No, and I am grateful for it, my boy." Gaius told him.

"So did you prove Aredian framed him?" Elyan asked.

"Yes." Gwen answered.

"Sort of." Merlin answered at the same time.

**TBC**


	11. Chapter 11

**Thank you for all your reviews :D**

**Here's the next one! I hope you enjoy it.**

**Chapter 11**

"_So did you prove Aredian framed him?" Elyan asked._

"_Yes." Gwen answered._

"_Sort of." Merlin answered at the same time._

"Sort of?" Gwen asked, confused.

"Gwen came to me, saying how Aredian was questioning Morgana and she couldn't cope much more, and I told her Gaius was framed and we had to find proof and she agreed to help. I snuck into Aredian's room that night and found a bowl of flower petals and took one, just as Aredian returned. I used my magic to make the room untouched again, and hid until he left, then went back to Gwen. We spent all night looking through Gaius' books for the flower."

"It was a Belladonna petal." Gwen nodded, remembering it clearly.

"It could be treated to produce hallucinations." Merlin continued. "Aredian had drugged the witnesses to hallucinate magic being used. Gwen was able to figure out it had to be in their makeup or perfume, and we went to the Apothecary and got a confession out of him. Aredian had threatened his family if he didn't sell the tinctures as eyedrops. We were going to go to Uther, but knew that wouldn't be enough evidence, so I snuck into Aredian's room, while he was sleeping and cast a few spells on him."

"That's where you went!" Gwen grinned. "Well, then the sun rose while Merlin was gone, and by the time he got back, Gaius and had been taken to the pyre, so I convinced Arthur to delay the execution to hear us out."

"We told Uther about the drugged drops and he questioned the witnesses, and Aredian denied them. I suggested searching his room and Arthur backed me. Uther led the search, and the guards looked through his belongings."

"Yes, we found dozens of amulets and bottles of the tincture." Arthur added, "Then Aredian choked and coughed out a toad. He tried to attack Morgana, but dropped the knife and fell backwards out the window as he choked on a toad." Arthur finished. "I always thought he was an idiot for keeping evidence like that with him.

Merlin was blushing slightly, "Umm, yeah, I planted that evidence there."

"What?" Arthur asked, looking shocked at his manservant.

"I had to do something to save Gaius and prove it was Aredian." Merlin protested.

"Merlin, you can't just plant evidence. That is what Aredian did to get Gaius in trouble, and what he was going to do to get you in trouble. You doing it to him just puts you on the same level as him." Arthur frowned at the man.

"Arthur, I've learnt to lie my entire life. I've learnt that life isn't fair. I'm no monster, but everyone, if they knew the truth, would treat me like one. I'm not evil, but given the chance, the men meant to enforce the law and protect us would treat me as evil. It is not your fault, but it is what happened. I have always done whatever was necessary to survive, and then when I came to Camelot, to help you survive. It's hard to follow every single law when one of the same laws states that I committed treason when I was born and knew nothing other than eating and sleeping." Merlin told the King. Merlin added in a quieter voice, "I told you I have broken many laws, and I'm not proud of that. But I did what was necessary at the time."

Arthur looked troubled but Gwen stepped in, "How about you show what happened for those who weren't here?"

Merlin half shrugged and the vision appeared.

_Merlin stood in front of Uther, Aredian to one side of the hall, Gwen behind him and Arthur opposite, next to his father._

"_Sire, the witnesses saw nothing but hallucinations induced by the Belladonna in these eye drops." Merlin announced, holding out the bottle._

_Arthur took it off Merlin, read the label and then handed it over to Uther, who barely looked at it, asking the witnesses, the three women standing to the side, "And you bought this Belladonna from this man?" Uther nodded towards the Apothecary who stood next to them. They all nodded. _

_Uther then asked the apothecary, "Where did you get it from? Don't be afraid, no harm will come to you here."_

_The man glanced over at Aredian then said quite hesitantly, "The Witchfinder. He gave them to me."_

"_Did he tell you what it was for?" Uther asked the man, handing the bottle of eye drops back to Arthur._

"_No. Only that if I did not sell it, he'd have me burnt at the stake."_

_Uther turned to Aredian, and asked "How do you answer to these accusations?"_

_Aredian scoffed, standing confidently with his arms crossed. "They're absurd. The boy has clearly concocted these lies in the hope of saving his master."_

"_Then you won't mind if we search your chamber, will you?" Merlin asked, glaring at the man._

_Uther snapped at Merlin, "Silence! You have no authority here!"_

_Arthur stepped forward, cutting off Merlin from arguing further, "Father...let's settle this once and for all. If what Merlin says is wrong, he must bear the consequences. But if there is some truth in what he says..."_

"_I have nothing to hide." Aredian announced._

_Uther nodded and ordered the guards to search the man's chambers._

_As they all left the hall to search the rooms, Aredian shot Merlin a look that was pure hate and loathing from behind Uther and Arthur's backs._

_Inside his chambers, Aredian stood inside, half way between the wall and door. Uther and Arthur stood in the doorway as guards searched. Merlin stood just inside, away from Aredian, and Morgana stood the other side of the doorway, leaning closer to Arthur, away from the witchfinder._

"_You're wasting your time." Aredian sighed._

"_The cupboard over there." Arthur ordered the guards, joining in to help. Arthur opened the cupboard and dozens of amulets spilled out. Tucked to the side were several bottles of the belladonna tincture._

"_These things don't belong to me! This is a trick!" Aredian protested, as Uther turned to him questioningly, coughing slightly. "That boy plots against me!" He coughed some more, and again, then looked bewildered and confused as he coughed up a toad._

"_Sorcerer!" Uther cried out, as the guards moved to grab him._

_Aredian pulled out a dagger and grabbed Morgana, pulling her against him, holding the knife against her throat._

"_Aredian, think carefully about what you're doing. You will never escape from Camelot alive." Uther threatened._

"_I will if you value the life of your ward. Hmm?" Aredian sneered, backing up towards the window, away from the advancing guards._

_Merlin whispered under his breath and shut his eyes and his eyes flashed gold. "__Forbærnan__." The handle of the dagger heated up and Aredian was forced to drop it. Morgana jerked forwards and Aredian stumbled backwards, hitting a box and flailing backwards and out the window._

"_Good job mate." Gwaine laughed, clapping Merlin on the shoulder warmly._

"_Gaius, didn't you tell him off? That was wrong, planting evidence." Arthur protested._

_A new image appeared around them, this time of Gaius in his chambers, with Merlin, sitting down to eat dinner._

"_What I don't understand is how you knew he'd concealed the evidence in his chamber." Gaius said to the boy sitting across from him, already starting to eat._

"_Just a hunch, really." Merlin shrugged, hiding a grin on his face._

"_I see." Gaius nodded. He paused, then said, "And the toad?"_

"_That I, er...ahem, I, er...can't explain." Merlin stumbled and muttered._

"_I can hardly explain it myself. Unless, of course, you put it there." Gaius looked at him from under his bushy eyebrows._

"_OK, Gaius, fair enough. I promise I will never save your life again." Merlin vowed._

"_Promise?" Gaius asked._

"_Absolutely."_

_They looked at each other and burst into laughter together._

"_Honestly, Merlin, the toad was a step too far." Gaius said as he recovered._

"_You should've seen the look on his face!" Merlin gasped as he continued laughing, causing Gaius to continue laughing again._

"Merlin, I need you to promise me that you'll follow the laws now. I can't have my court sorcerer faking evidence to prove something he knows to be true, just so that person will be punished. The trials must be fair." Arthur told Merlin.

"Well know that you know about my magic, I don't need to come up with reasons why I know something due to my magic, or why I suspect something due to my magic. I won't need to sneak around anymore." Merlin shrugged.

"Alright, so you defeated the evil witchfinder, then what?" Gwaine asked.

"Then Morgause came and fought with Arthur." Merlin explained, the fog disappearing and everyone sitting upright in their chairs again.

"Huh?" Gwaine asked, as he stretched his arms upwards.

"Morgause appeared, challenged Arthur to a fight and was winning. In return for sparing his life, she made him swear to come to her and take on a challenge of her own choosing. Uther didn't want him to go, but I managed to sneak rope into his rooms and he snuck out the window. Aside from being attacked by Odin's men, and me stopping some of them, not hiding out in the back," Merlin added, mock-glaring at Arthur who grinned and half-shrugged. "The trip was uneventful. We found her place hidden by magic, she had cast a spell on his horse to know the way, and we went inside. She made us believe she was going to chop Arthurs head off, and he was letting her, so in proving himself to be accepting her challenge no matter what made her see he was a man of his word, and offered Arthur a wish, which he asked for her to talk about his mother." Merlin paused, he looked at Arthur, "I do not know if that was truly your mother's spirit, or Morgause's spell, but what she said was the truth. Morgause wanted to manipulate you into killing Uther, which would ruin you in turn, and then the kingdom would have been her's for the taking. I lied to you to stop you from acting out of pain and fury and guilt."

"She was telling the truth?" Arthur whispered, shocked. "I really was, I mean,"

"It's why Uther started the Great Purge." Merlin nodded. "He blamed Nimueh for his loss, and then her magic. All magic and proceeded to remove it from the world. But as I have said, the Old Magic is about balance. It is about maintaining balance. The more Uther tried to destroy magic, the more the world was out of balance, until the drought occurred, and then all the magic that had been lost reentered the world."

"In you." Arthur added.

Merlin nodded.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"We're not going to see this memory?" Gwaine asked.

"It is not my memory to share." Merlin said, shaking his head, "It was a private conversation that occurred between Arthur and his mother, and then Arthur and Uther, one that I was present for, but not one that is mine to make public knowledge."

"We'll continue tomorrow." Arthur ordered, standing up and walking out of the room. Merlin shared a look with Gaius who nodded at the boy. Merlin left, following the King, leaving Gwen and the knights confused.

"You heard the king, we'll continue tomorrow. Sir Leon, I require some help in carrying some medicines out to a few townspeople, do you have someone you can spare? Merlin is occupied." Gaius asked, getting to his feet.

"I'll help, Gaius." Gwen said, also getting to her feet, offering her arm to the old man for support.

"Thank you my dear."

The pair walked out, and Leon turned to Gwaine, who was already standing up. "Yes I know, if one of us doesn't go with them, the princess will yell at us for not protecting the queen." Gwaine nodded, following the physician and pregnant woman at a safe distance.

* * *

Merlin followed Arthur to the castle wall, where he stood staring out over his city. Merlin stood just behind his right shoulder.

"Is there a way you can find out if that was her or not?" Arthur asked Merlin.

"No, I'm afraid only Morgause could tell us for certain, and we wouldn't be able to trust her answer anyway, if she could tell us." Merlin said.

"I don't know if I want to believe she would be that bitter over my father's actions." Arthur murmured.

"I know my mother was angry with my father for leaving, and my father would have been hurt if my mother had remarried, even though he knew he had no right to expect her to wait. Even if it is not an attractive trait or something we wish those we love to feel, our parents are only human. They feel bitter and hurt and betrayed just like us, and they feel love and pride, just like us." Merlin told his king.

Arthur glanced behind him at Merlin then looked back out over the city.

Merlin didn't ask if Arthur had decided if he was going to believe that was truly Ygraine or not. He did, however, say, "There, there is a possibility. A slim chance, that I would need to research before acting on it, or anything, but there is a very, very small chance I would be able to make a connection with your mother and allow you two to talk briefly. I may not be able to do it, and it may not be able to be done for ages, depending on the solstice and my abilities, and like I said, I'd need to talk to Gaius and probably the druids about it first, to see if there'd be any negative effects and whatnot, but I can look into it if you'd like?"

Arthur turned to blink at him. "I can't ask you for something like that, it isn't fair. You have your own lost loved ones and - "

"It isn't something I will do again, nor make public knowledge. The dead are dead for a reason, and the barrier between us is not to be broken down and disturbed regularly. But I would do it for you, if you wanted." Merlin shrugged.

Arthur stared at him for a moment, then finally tried to talk, but his voice had gone rough with emotion, not that he would ever confess to that. "If you don't mind then, maybe, um, maybe look into it. Find out if it will harm anyone or anything first, and whether it shouldn't be done. I'll not cause damage for a selfish cause that I can live my life without."

Merlin nodded. "If I get the time amongst all the chores and jobs you have given me. You understand that I'm not a slave, right, prat?"

"Hey! I'm your king! Don't talk to me like that." Arthur protested and shoved Merlin. Merlin shoved back and darted away.

Later on, Arthur refused all claims he had been chasing after his friend, but at the time he was laughing his head off, grabbing Merlin and putting him in a headlock as Merlin tried to fight back without his magic.

* * *

**TBC**


End file.
